Explore Colonsay

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Meet our experts

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Kevin Byrne

Kevin came to live on Colonsay in the late 70s, as owner of the hotel. Since then he has been bus driver, publisher, author, pier master, walking guide and boatman. Kevin has been a loyal supporter of the festival since its outset, and is believed to be the only person to have owned and crashed a micro-light on Colonsay!SPECIALIST SUBJECTS
Ferns & Botany, Local Genealogy and History

Amy Rankine

A foraging teacher for around 7 years, Amy has a passion for wild plants and fungi. She also consultants with breweries, using wild ingredients in beer to connect with the local environment. A Masters in Gastronomy at QMU (and now undertaking her PhD) has influenced Amy’s approach –making connections to the land, sustainability and where wild food sits within our food scape.SPECIALIST SUBJECTS
Foraging, wild plants and fungi

David Jardine

David Jardine has been visiting Colonsay since the 1960s; here he developed a love of the birds and wildlife of the island, which has drawn him back to study them in most seasons of the year. An author of The Birds of Colonsay and Oronsay, he is also a bird ringer, which has allowed him to find out more about their life histories, and during the last decade he has, with others, been finding out more about the moths and butterflies of the islands.SPECIALIST SUBJECTS
Birds, Moths & Natural History

David Webster

David did a degree in Geology at Oxford in the early 1970s and worked in the oil industry. He later concentrated on sustainable development after gaining an MSc in environmental management at Strathclyde University. Latterly he undertook a further MSc at Stockholm University on the Rhinns Complex of Islay and has authored two geological guide books to the Islay, Jura and Colonsay area. He is part of a team researching and writing a new Geological Society Memoir on the Port Askaig Tillite. He has built a house on Islay and has been known to enjoy a dram.SPECIALIST SUBJECTS
Geology

Owen Mountford

Owen has been an annual visitor to Colonsay since 2014, as part of a team recording the island’s flora. The results are currently being written up as a guide to the wild flowers of Colonsay. He is also engaged in finishing a huge work on the wild plants of the Fenland of East Anglia – a contrast that has kept him energised for both projects.SPECIALIST SUBJECTS
UK Flora and wetland ecology