Atomic Shrimp - Highland Wild Food

Highland Wild Food

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Weather Worries

The weather is pretty unpredictable across the whole of the British Isles - and Scotland is no exception - on top of that, weather in the Highlands can be extreme. With that in mind, we prepared ourselves to get out and about even if it was wet and windy - but as it turned out, most days of our holiday were mild and dry with sunny spells - with a real scorcher in the middle of the week.

What About The Midges?

Whenever we told anyone we were going to the north west of Scotland, they mentioned the midges - and as I understand it, the Highland Midge is indeed troublesome in some areas - we only had one damp, windless day when we noticed them biting a lot - and that only lasted five minutes until we wiped ourselves with cheap insect repellant.

It probably helped that we were on a sea loch, but even when we went inland into the woods and glens, we didn't really have much trouble with the midges. And even when they do bite, it's a momentary and minor irritation, not at all like the bite of a mosquito.

We provide a website where caring, talented people (Crafters), list their products to the public for donations with proceeds going to treatment centers of chemo-therapy patients

August 2010 - My partiality for wild foods is especially stimulated when I travel and enjoy the opportunity to find new things to eat. This year, we spent a week in the Highlands of Scotland

First Things First

Before we start looking at some of the wild foods I found and ate (or not), I've got to say a few things about the location, and the accommodation.

We stayed in a sensitively-modernised crofters cottage, right on the shore of Loch Ewe, on the Gairloch Peninsula. That's pretty much the northwest corner of Scotland - a bit of a trek to get there, but as we hoped, very much worth the trip. The landscape and scenery in the area is breathtakingly beautiful in a way that's hard to describe or capture in photographs.

The cottage itself was quite perfect - cosy, with an honest traditional feel, but with ample room and modern comforts, including (big win, for me) a very well equipped, spacious kitchen. Situated on a croft with direct access to the rocky seashore - a perfect base for my favourite kinds of interesting exploration.

Coille Bheag

The place is called Coille Bheag - and I highly recommend it (I promise they're not paying me to say so) - check out the link above for more pictures and details of this excellent self-catering holiday accomodation and more about the surrounding location.

For The Wild Food Fanatic

The Wester Ross area is a great destination for the wild food fan - the ratio of people to land area is small - so there's no fierce competition with other foragers for precious finds such as wild mushrooms.

There's no shortage of rainfall and fresh water, which helps to ensure abundant pickings of berries and wild greens.

And the beaches are clean and the seas unpolluted - so finding safe shellfish and other marine wildfoods isn't a matter of pot luck.

Of course, as well as the wild foods that the individual enthusiast can forage, commercially-caught local wild fish and shellfish, great fresh local produce and Scottish speciality foods are all readily available.

On With The Show

Anyway - let's have a quick round-up at the wild food items I found in my week in the Highlands - on the next page.

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