Excerpts from issue 53/23 22 August 2026
Islay Show 2026
A well-attended 2026 Islay Show enjoyed ideal weather and a slightly revised layout which drew positive reviews from many. With live music from Islay and Jura Pipes and Drums, Donnie MacKinnon and friends and North of the Bridge, there was plenty to keep all entertained into the early evening. Champion of Champions was a Limousin Cross Heifer entered by Dunlossit Knocklearach.
Photo: Rae McKenzie Photography
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We object
Islay Community Council has submitted an objection to the proposed offshore windfarm
Community Councils, including Islay Community Council, have a duty of ascertaining and expressing to the public authorities, the views of the community they represent. With that in mind, it might come as a surprise to many that Islay Community Council has submitted an objection to the proposed MachairWind offshore windfarm.
This agglomeration of "...between 91 and 144 wind turbine generators, together with two offshore substation platforms and inter-array cabling", is intended to be sited to the north and west of Islay and Jura, and within proximity of Colonsay, Mull and Iona.
The objection has been lodged in response to the Scottish Power Renewables' (SPR) Applications of Consent for the necessary licences to install and operate MachairWind.
However, far from being a simple "we don't want wind turbines in our backyard" objection, the Community Council's response “is built on the applicant's own material. Almost every adverse finding relied upon is the applicant's own finding, taken from its Environmental Impact Assessment Report ('EIAR'), its technical appendices, its Habitats Regulations documentation or the consultation responses it has itself recorded."
The objection continues by stating "It is not an argument about offshore wind generation in the abstract and the Community Council does not advance one."
The objection also points out that Islay is one of six islands identified by the Scottish Government to seek carbon neutral status by 2040, yet the installation of the proposed windfarm offers no specific benefit to the island in this respect.
The cable carrying generated power from MachairWind will travel south to Girvan, where it will make connection with the National Grid. (It should be pointed out, however, that the site where landfall is made is at the behest of the National Grid. SPR has no say in this matter.)
The Community Council submits that SPR's application does not 'satisfy the requirements of the framework which governs it', and asks the Scottish Ministers to refuse the applications.
In an ideal world, the Community Council would have been afforded the time to survey the responses of the population of Islay, but SPR's submission to government runs to over 700 pages, many of which are of a technical nature. With the deadline for submission of objections having passed on 15 August, it was considered impractical to carry out an island-wide survey.
The Community Council's objection alone contains 41 pages of carefully constructed technical and legal objections.
For example, SPR's application compares the greenhouse gas emissions likely to be incurred from the construction and pre-construction of MachairWind, operation and maintenance across the 35 years life-expectancy of the turbines (SPR have a 60 year lease on the location), the decommissioning process, as well as the installation of the cable corridor for grid connection.
These are compared with the equivalent emissions produced by a gas-fueled power station, but notably, SPR has not included any figures for the extraction, processing and transportation of the gas. Thus the figures are not directly comparable.
However, SPR has then simply subtracted the emissions projected by the windfarm from the operational emissions of a gas-fueled power station to demonstrate the windfarm to be the more favourable option.
There are other instances included in the SPR submission which the Community Council believes to be fallible and it ends the objection by saying, "The Community Council has confined itself to grounds which the application documents support, and no submission in this objection depends upon evidence which the Community Council cannot produce or which the ministers cannot verify in the application documents."
There will be members of the Islay Community who find themselves in favour of MachairWind, and who might be surprised and disappointed that their Community Council has taken the apparently unilateral step of submitting an objection, ostensibly on their behalf.
However, the Community Council has been particularly dilligent in its comprehensive submission, one which relies entirely on a belief that Scottish Power Renewables has not fulfilled certain requirements of the application, including regard for scheduled monuments and requested mitigations in terms of size and number of turbines.
The full objection can be read at hebrideanhorizon.co.uk/main-objectors/
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Music by The Sound - Islay Jazz Festival
Opening the 2026 Caol Ila Islay Jazz Festival on 11 September are two concerts, each premiering locally inspired, brand-new compositions. Against the background of the Sound of Islay and beyond, Graeme Stephens' group will perform 'Orwell', a connected suite of new tunes inspired by 1984 and Orwell's time on Jura. The intriguing musical line-up has the composer on guitar, alongside star cellist, Juliette Limoine, the viola player with London Sinfonietta, Fiona Winning, and Aberdeen's Matt Kilmer on saxophone.
Later in the evening at the distillery sees the world premiere of Laura McDonald's 'Islands Suite'.
Laura is an internationally established saxophonist and band leader, who has performed at several Islay Jazz Festivals. She relishes her time on Islay and last year, was commissioned to undertake this composition. She spent time writing here last autumn, pieces which are mostly inspired by Islay, but with influences from one or two other islands. Her band features some of the hottest young players from Glasgow.
Laura was recently appointed Professor of the Jazz Department at the Conservatoire, where she will remain a pivotal figure developing another generation of players and singers on the vibrant Scottish music scene.
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In this week's issue:
Islay Show results and photos, Kildalton Cross Golf Tournament, Community Council's windfarm objection, The Botanist's Carl Reavey Award, Annual Beach Mission, Book Festival Preview, Rhinns Gala Day, Mactaggart Leisure Centre Swimathon, Craig Walker's Walk on the Wild Side, Islay Jazz Festival, RNLI Open Day, Book review: Rulebreakers and Ghostrunners, Book review: Somerled: Lord of the Isles - Alastair Redman, Book review: Islay on the Front Line - Stuart Graham.
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Islay Book Festival
Chinh Nguyen writes:
The 20th edition of the Islay Book Festival starts this Thursday! You'll find a full rundown of events, venues and times in our advert included in this very issue of the Ileach. Buy your tickets at www.islaybookfestival.co.uk or at the door on the day. Every ticket you buy makes a difference. Nearly all events include Pay What You Can pricing, and under 18s go free!
We also have two completely FREE events - check out our Celebration Ceilidh on Saturday evening, and our Family Birdwatching event on Sunday afternoon. If you're still deciding what you fancy, then let us pique your interest.
From the dark streets of Glasgow to Scotland's island distilleries, from Middle-Earth in Gaelic to poetry that holds up a mirror to our turbulent times, and finally to the chilling world of 15th-century witch trials, five unique authors offer something wonderful for everyone at the Islay Book Festival this year.
Louise Welsh's The Cut Up
Louise Welsh, author of the cult classic, The Cutting Room, returns with The Cut Up, the third noir thriller featuring Glasgow auctioneer Rilke. While cash is king and no questions are asked at Bowery Auctions, Rilke's life becomes considerably more complicated and dangerous when an obnoxious jewellery dealer is found dead on the tarmac outside the auction house, stabbed with a Victorian hatpin. If secrets, shadows, grey areas, hints, and twists and turns intrigue you, The Cut Up should be on your list.
Ian Buxton's Whiskies Galore - New Edition
There could hardly be a more appropriate festival book for an Islay and Jura audience than Ian Buxton's Whiskies Galore. Buxton, who has worked in and around the drinks industry for almost 30 years, takes us on a very personal odyssey around Scotland's island distilleries. Islay receives three memorable chapters, alongside visits to Jura, Mull, Harris and Lewis, Raasay, Skye and Orkney. The new edition brings the story up to date with the changing island whisky scene, including new and proposed distilleries. Expect sharp observations on whisky investment and luxury marketing, too. Buxton's event, in conversation with Ardbeg distillery manager Bryony McNiven, promises to be one for whisky lovers and anyone who enjoys a good story. Expect a nice 'dram' surprise, which will no doubt delight any lover of uisge beatha.
Moray Watson's A' Hobat
Bilbo Baggins has found a new home in Scottish Gaelic. Professor Moray Watson's A' Hobat, no A-null's Air Ais A-rithist is the first Gaelic translation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, and represents a remarkable addition to Gaelic literature.
Watson, Professor of Gaelic and Translation Studies at the University of Aberdeen, faced the formidable challenge of translating Tolkien's famously inventive language while preserving the magic and character of the original fable. Watson’s choices include coining the Gaelic hobat for 'hobbit', while the volume retains Tolkien's original maps and illustrations. With Watson returning to the Islay Gaelic Centre, where he previously worked for three years, this particularly special festival event is a must on your to-do list whether you speak Gaelic or not.
Hannah Lavery's Everything Everyday: A Year of Empty Promises
Former Edinburgh Makar Hannah Lavery offers something quieter but no less powerful to the festival with Everything Everyday: A Year of Empty Promises. Described as a poetic journal, the collection charts a year from winter through autumn in diary-poems, lyric fragments and a crown of sonnets. Lavery brings together memory and identity with the realities of contemporary grief, protest and political upheaval. A hopeful daydreamer who writes in the margins, Hannah Lavery dares to confront the fragility and chaos of life and shows that our unpredictable world can be beautiful and that real courage lives in the everyday.
C. J. Cooke's The Last Witch
Finally, something decidedly darker brews as C. J. Cooke's The Last Witch takes us to Innsbruck, Austria in 1485 and the true story of Helena Scheuberin, a woman accused of witchcraft by Heinrich Kramer, whose investigations helped lead to the infamous Malleus Maleficarum, or Hammer of the Witches.
Cooke's spellbinding gothic novel follows Helena as she is imprisoned alongside six other women and subjected to brutal interrogation. Yet at its heart, this story is about courage, survival, female solidarity and resistance to institutional power. Adept at teaching creative writing, Cooke weaves difficult subjects seamlessly into her multifaceted and unforgettable tale; hence, The Last Witch promises to be a gripping and rich festival conversation.
Five magnificent writers and five unique journeys and other writing stars will converge at the Islay Book Festival, YOUR portal to the multiverse of modern storytelling! Other treats include Dougie Donnelly chaired by our own Glenn Campbell, and Booker Prize winner Douglas Stuart. With the Julie Lin event already selling out, we encourage you to book quickly, so that you don't miss out.
Whatever your fancy, full programmes, Pay What You Can tickets and more await you at www.islaybookfestival.co.uk Come along on 27-30 August for a weekend of stories, conversations, discoveries, and some island magic!
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This is Islay
2026 Podcast of the Year featuring individuals, personalities and features of Islay and Jura. Listen now at https://anchor.fm/thisisislay
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