Achiltibuie No 2 DCNN 0419 – A remote outpost where bananas were grown.

58.01481 -5.33643 Met Office CIMO Assessed Class 5 Installed 1/5/2013 (replacement site)

Achiltibuie is a small and somewhat remote village in Ross and Cromarty. It has the most charming name in Scottish Gaelic of “Achd Ille Bhuidhe” which apparently translates to “Field of the yellow-haired boy”. Life in such locations is very different to that enjoyed by the rest of the mostly urbanised UK population and not easily understood by many. The weather station is in the grounds of the local primary school who likely earn a small income from it and they also engage their young pupils in taking readings as part of their overall learning process.

It seems almost churlish to criticise this site in such a beautiful location and I would certainly prefer not to. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, this choice of site was not particularly good. I often find these situations frustrating as a very modest amount of additional investment could ensure both a good weather station and a genuine community asset. The street view image below indicates rapid encroachment on the unenclosed site by newly planted conifers.

When originally installed (as a relocation) the site was not perfect being on a slope but considerably better with no shading trees. The image below predates the installation by a few months and prior to the playing field being excavated at the top of the headline image and is indicative of the level of natural slope.

It would appear that to improve conditions on the new playing field the trees were understandably planted to act as wind breaks. Although possibly not entirely natural, perhaps a less shaded location could have been found on the new playing field area to improve the readings validity. Interestingly there is a caption to a posted image montage made on the schools X (Twitter) page that tells an enlightening story. This is not necessarily a cold place, although describing the day’s high of 25.2°C as “extreme” is probably a relative term.

“Sports day this afternoon, great effort in extreme heat. Well done everyone.”

Quite surprisingly the weather station was relocated from its previous location when the locals were unable to buy out its former site at a local exotic fruit and veg “Hydroponicum” that actually grew bananas.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-15820481

The article goes on to describe the locals attempts to get affordable housing built on the site – a major problem in the area as their difficulty in recruiting a new Head Master subsequently showed. A great pity.

Despite all this it cannot be avoided that the principle purposes of supplementary small sites like Achtilibuie cannot be met.

It is hard to justify the readings (from however a delightful spot it may be set in) as meeting an adequate standard for inclusion in the long term climate record.

Source: https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2024/12/19/achiltibuie-no-2-dcnn-0419-a-remote-outpost-where-bananas-were-grown/