IT’S THE BBC’s Children In Need once again today and as ever Radio Shetland has a huge list of goodies to auction off tonight. The auction is split into three parts – one from 7pm-9pm; one from 9pm-11pm and the Star Auction, which runs from 7pm to midnight. Listen in on 92.7 FM to get the details. From 7pm the auction line number will be (01595) 694747.

Travel and accommodation

NorthLink – free return passage from Lerwick to Aberdeen for two passengers, plus a car, premium cabin and £60 meal vouchers.

Two return tickets from Sumburgh to Bergen from Logan­air.…

THREE nights of wonderful harmony from both local and visiting artistes – that is probably how best to describe the Thomas Fraser Memorial Festival.

As I arrived at the Hamnavoe Hall on Saturday evening the first on stage, May, Mackie & Rhonda, were setting the scene for what was to follow.

Mackie Sutherland was proving his versatility, handling the dobro with the same assurance he has with the electric guitar during a country rock number, as the band treated the audience to a couple of songs off the latest and fourth Thomas Fraser album That Far Away Land.

Continuing the …

OVER 20 years ago I found myself living in Hamnavoe, Burra Isle. My brother had been with the Burra boats and I had my first stint at the fishing aboard the Opportune.

A regular visitor to the house, more than often full of the “joys of life”, always insisted on either of the two Thomas Fraser cassettes I had, such was his fondness for the man and his music.

Eventually I ended up giving them to him one evening. I later discovered that this was not an unusual occurrence and visits to various households in the area meant that he …

THE CURRENT exhibition at the Bonhoga Gallery at Weisdale Mill is a wonderful mix­ture of gems which form the perfect wedding and is aptly named I Do: the Craft of the Wedding.

This is an Aladdin’s Cave of exciting pieces which enthral the visitor with colour, texture and sounds. The art of marriage is explored under four headings: something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue and under the themes of traditional, futuristic, environmentally friendly and eastern/oriental.

The exhibition highlights the work of over 60 top UK artists using a wide range of techniques. Many are Shetland based and …

THE CATRIONA MacDonald band came to Fair Isle last Thursday night for the first gig of a tour with Catriona’s new album Over the Moon.

The tour is sponsored by Tune-Up – a Scottish organisation set up to fund bands towards making the sometimes difficult and costly trips to Scotland’s remotest audiences: in this case, Fair Isle, Lerwick, Inverness, Drumnadrochit, Mull, Ullapool, Lossiemouth, Stirling, Edinburgh and Hawick.

Bringing a November concert programme to Scotland’s wild places doesn’t come without risks but Catriona and company started as they meant to go on and flew into the isle for Thursday’s concert.

And …

MUSIC and management company Atlantic Edge Music Services has tasted initial success at this year’s Scottish Traditional Music Awards, with three of the acts represented by (or associated with) the company nominated for prestigious awards.

Bodega, who have fiddle player Ross Couper from Gott in their line up, have been nominated in the Best Up and Coming Artist category. Catriona McKay, well known in Shetland through her involvement with Fiddlers’ Bidy, is nominated in the Best Album category for her recent solo album Starfish.

Also nominated in the album category for their debut are Mary Ann Kennedy & Na Seóid …

WRITING about spring bulbs, corms and tubers in mid-November may strike some of my readers as a bit late, especially as the gardening publications tend to deal with this subject in August.

I consider this a perfect time. It’s certainly too late for the larks, those gardeners who rise at dawn, get their bulbs in the ground the minute they take them home and, in all likelihood, have already done all their Christmas shopping.

This offering is for the owls among you and, as is often the case, was prompted by several reader enquiries concerning their bulb-related lateness. There must …

FISH supper? Haddock, whiting, maybe plaice spring to mind. Thoughts of crisp chips and succulent fish flesh steam quietly into mental view, and with luck, not a single bone for the tongue to wheedle out of the melting flakes and winkle out of the mouth.

Whiting, haddock, cod even, but not Ray’s bream, surely, but yes! Fantastic! A recent stray catch from the Keila from Orkney came my way, to examine, and finally taste. Chances like this come rarely, so it was time to alert all the available senses.

Trawled up from somewhere between Fair Isle and Orkney, the Ray’s …

CONSIDERING the time of year, last week was a busy one for birds in the North Isles.

At least two Hume’s warblers were located, one at Baltasound, the other at Symbister.

This warbler became a species in its own right in 1997, having previously been regarded as a subspecies of yellow-browed warbler, from which it differs in being a rather more grey-toned colour while still retaining the features of the yellow-browed.

They breed across central Asia and normally winter in northern India, but sightings here seem to be getting a little more regular, although still in small numbers. Other warblers …

THERE have been recent records of a Hume’s warbler from Unst and Whalsay and, on the 11th, there was one in Bressay.

Hume’s leaf warbler is very similar to a yellow-browed warbler but has duller, more greyish-green upperparts with less distinct markings. The call note is also different and it is an important factor in confirming the identifi-cation of this species in the field. It was formerly considered a sub-species of yellow-browed warbler and was first identified in Scotland in 1991.

The first three Shetland records were in 2003, one record also being from Bressay. All the Scottish records have …