We Are Climavore

10/11/2026

🌊🪨🐚💙We have been invited to present our work as part of Highlands & Islands Climate Hub Circular Economy Month. 🌊🪨🐚💙

Join us tomorrow (Wednesday 11th November) from 2-3pm online to find out more and be part of a discussion as to how we can do things differently!

Sign up now! https://hiclimatehub.co.uk/event-listing/doing-things-differently-learning-from-climavore

All photos Jordan Young Photography 🌊🪨🐚💙

29/10/2026

𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙏𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙡 𝙂𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙎𝙠𝙮𝙚

We are pleased to announce that we have secured funding from The National Lottery Community Fund’s Small Eco Awards programme to develop a community-led Tidal Garden in Skye, creating a new space for people to connect with the intertidal environment and each other.

The Tidal Garden, at Black Rock, Scorrybreac, Portree, will be shaped by the rhythms of the tide, the seasons, and the needs of the local community, creating a place where people can come together to care for, learn from and (re)connect with Skye’s shoreline.

The project builds on six months of participatory workshops and community engagement between October 2025 and March 2026, as part of an EU-funded programme connected to the UN Ocean Decade. A huge thank you to everyone who attended and shared ideas, thoughts and visions for what a tidal garden could look like!

More details will be announced soon along with a launch event in the coming weeks 💙💙💙

We wish to thank Clan MacNeacail for allowing us permission to use this space as a temporary exploration of what a Tidal Garden could become.

Photos Jordan Young Photography

28/10/2026

𝐋𝐚𝐱𝐚þ𝐣óð | 𝐀 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤!

The 2024 documentary film and campaign by Patagonia Films examines industrial open-net salmon farming in Iceland's fjords. The screening will be followed by a presentation about salmon conservation in Scotland.

The event is being hosted by WildFish on Tuesday 3rd November from 7-9pm at Portree Community Centre

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊
Free to attend but spaces limited, book now!

01/10/2026

We had a fantastic group of local architects, builders, seaweed cultivators and artists join us for a gathering at our workshop to take a look at what we have been working on as part of a UK Research and Innovation, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Crown Estate Scotland funded project. In partnership with Joel Franklyn and his team at Skye Stone Studio we are exploring how we can transform waste shells from restaurants across Skye into a regenerative building material and green island economy.

There are exciting things to come and a huge thank you to everyone who joined us and shared their insights and expertise to help us further develop a new material commons 🦪🦪🦪 🔜 🪨🪨🪨

Photographs by 57ºN Media

16/09/2026

Interested in what can be made from waste sea shells and how they could create a new material economy for Skye? Come along to our workshop by Auchtertyre on Monday 21st September from 10.30am - 12noon to find out more 🪨🐚🦪

Email [email protected] for all the info.

Skye Stone Studio

10/09/2026

We've an article in this week's West Highland Free Press about our ongoing work exploring uses for waste shells in Skye and Raasay 🦪Collaborating with the amazing Skye Stone Studio to think about shells not as waste, but as a local material resource, like they once were. If you're interested in finding out more and being part of the conversation about how the material might be used, then get in touch!

Pick up your copy today and support local journalism! 🗞🦪🐚

Funded by UK Research and Innovation Highlands and Islands Enterprise and

News from our friends at We Are Climavore, a piece from this week's West Highland Free Press.

If you can't get to buy a hard copy of the weekly newspaper why not take an annual digital subscription. The West Highland Free Press is the UK's first employee owned newspaper bringing you stories, events, news, ads and so much more. With a digital subscription you get to see local news in your inbox, usually late on Wednesdays. And it's still going strong after 54 years!

More information on subscribing is here.

https://www.whfp.com/product-category/digital-subscriptions/

At just £50 a year that's less than £1 week and you will be supporting the very best of local journalism.

07/09/2026

𝗦𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹

Shells have been used as building materials for millennia and across the world — from decorative shell grottos such as the one in Margate, England, to the oyster houses of the Pearl River Estuary in Guangdong, China, where oyster shells were used in construction to help regulate temperature and resist insect infestation.
As part of our research for our next public programme, we’ve been looking for traces of historic shell use on Skye and Raasay.

Our detective work recently took us to St Columba’s Isle, a small island in the River Snizort. Inside Aite Adhlaic Mhic Neacail (Nicolson’s Aisle), we found beautiful fragments, and even whole shells embedded within the shell mortar.
With limestone not readily available in the north of Skye, locally available shells offered an alternative source of calcium carbonate: they could be burned to produce lime and used as an aggregate in mortar.

It’s a fascinating reminder that shells have long been part of the material landscape of the islands and that what we now think of as waste may once have been a valuable local resource.

Do you know of any other buildings, walls or structures on Skye or Raasay where shells have been used?

We’d love to hear from you. 🐚

01/09/2026

𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝘅 𝗦𝗸𝘆𝗲 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹

The sun didn't shine, but that didn't put off over 30 foragers who joined us and Lucy Cooke, aka The Wild Cooke, for two inspiring walks along the shoreline near Armadale recently as part of the South Skye Nature Festival

Lucy's incredible knowledge led us through the many uses of the linden tree – bark for string, leaves for salads, flowers for drinks, and even seeds as a chocolate replacement (with the heavily caveated warning that it's nothing like your favourite brand!).

We discovered ribwort plantain and its many uses, especially for those pesky midge bites; silverweed, whose roots contain more fibre than a potato; gutweed as a salt replacement; and also sea plantain, sea arrowgrass, scurvy grass, dock, curly dock and sea aster – all growing within this small stretch of coastline. And who knew that rosebay willowherb, which grows in abundance across Skye, can be transformed into a traditional Russian black tea known as Ivan Chai or Koporye tea?

Lucy emphasised how important it is to know the dangerous plants as well as the edible ones. We saw foxglove in different stages, where every part of the plant is poisonous, and one of the most toxic plants in the UK, hemlock water-dropwort, which can rapidly cause muscle paralysis and asphyxiation.

The term "sardonic smile" is thought to originate from ancient uses of hemlock water-dropwort in Sardinia. The plant's powerful toxins cause intense muscle spasms, pulling the facial muscles into a fixed grin – a reminder that while our coastlines are full of incredible foods, they also demand knowledge, respect and care alongside the environment in which they grow.

It was wonderful to be part of the first South Skye Nature Festival alongside other organisations, groups and people doing wonderful work. Thank you to Lucy for sharing her wealth of knowledge and reminding us just how much there is to discover on Skye's shores. And always remember to check before you eat what you forage; you may only be able to eat certain parts of a plant or prepare it in a specific way.

Keep an eye on our page for more opportunities to explore Skye's coastline together.

31/07/2026

Yesterday we went in search of ancient shells used as a building material at St Columba's Isle, which sits in the Snizort River in Skye. In Aite Adhlaic Mhic Neacail (Nicolson's Aisle mortuary chapel) we found beautiful examples within the shell mortar. Do you know of any other buildings in Skye or Raasay where we can find examples of shells being used as a building material?

Big thanks to Rosie Somerville for this tip off 🐚🐚🐚

27/07/2026

The sun didn't shine, but that didn't put off over 30 foragers who joined us and Lucy Cooke, aka The Wild Cooke, for two inspiring walks along the shoreline near Armadale yesterday as part of the South Skye Nature Festival 🌱

Lucy's incredible knowledge led us through the many uses of the linden (lime) tree – bark for making string, leaves for salads, flowers for drinks, and even seeds as a chocolate replacement (with the heavily caveated warning that it's nothing like your favourite brand!).

We discovered ribwort plantain and its many uses, especially for those pesky midge bites; silverweed, whose roots contain more fibre than a potato; gutweed as a salt replacement; and not to mention sea plantain, sea arrowgrass, scurvy grass, dock, curly dock and sea aster – all growing within this small stretch of coastline. And who knew that rosebay willowherb, which grows in abundance across Skye, can be transformed into a traditional Russian black tea known as Ivan Chai, or Koporye tea?

Lucy also emphasised how important it is to know the dangerous plants as well as the edible ones. We saw foxglove in different stages, where every part of the plant is poisonous and can affect heart rhythms. And one of the most toxic plants in the UK – possibly Europe – hemlock water-dropwort, which can rapidly cause muscle paralysis and asphyxiation. This was on the shoreline and along the roadside.

The term "sardonic smile" is thought to originate from the ancient use of hemlock water-dropwort in Sardinia. The plant's powerful toxins cause intense muscle spasms, pulling the facial muscles into a fixed grin – a reminder that while our coastlines are full of incredible foods, they also demand knowledge, respect and care alongside the environment in which they grow.

It was wonderful to be part of the first South Skye Nature Festival alongside other organisations, groups and people doing wonderful work. And a huge thanks to Lucy for sharing her wealth of knowledge and reminding us just how much there is to discover on Skye's shores. And always remember to check before you eat what you forage, you may only be able to eat certain parts of a plant or prepare it in a specific way.

Keep an eye on our page for more opportunities to explore Skye's coastline together 💚🩵🌿🌱☘️🍂🍄🍄‍🟫🪸🌊