new tartan...

[macwilkin]

BBC is reporting a new tartan being launched...

Weavers join capercaillie fight

A new tartan named after the capercaillie has been spun by leading Scottish weavers in an effort to help save the UK's most endangered bird.
The Capercaillie Tartan, which was launched by Miss Scotland, incorporates the colours of the woodland grouse.

The RSPB will receive a 7% royalty on all products made from the fabric in a unique deal with weavers Lochcarron.

It said the money would go towards creating habitats and promoting the bird's precarious situation.

More than 20,000 capercaillies, which can reach up to three feet in length, used to roam the forests of northern Scotland.

Their numbers have reduced significantly through contact with deer fencing and natural predators and a lack of suitable forest habitat.

The idea for the tartan came from the Scottish Tartan Authority.

Its chairman, Alistair Buchan, is also the owner of Lochcarron.

He said: "I got a very favourable response from RSPB when I proposed this project, so I sat down and created a design that will hopefully heighten the profile of this critically endangered species by incorporating the beautiful primary colours of the bird into the tartan."

Nicola McLean, 22, who won a Scottish beauty pageant in June this year, said she wanted to help protect the wildlife of her home country.

"When I was told about the poor old capercaillie and asked to help with this tartan launch, I was only too keen to get involved," she said.

"It's a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness about Scottish environmental issues and make a little bit of a difference to conserving my heritage."

Alison Connelly, of RSPB Scotland, said: "We are delighted that people now have the opportunity to help save the magnificent capercaillie while purchasing such a stunning tartan, which has been inspired by the beauty of the bird itself."

Capercaillie tartan products will be on sale at RSPB reserve shops, via its mail order catalogue or at www.rspbshop.co.uk. Selected retailers will also stock the tartan.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...nd/5258248.stm

Published: 2006/08/08 23:04:54 GMT

© BBC MMVI

[efer]

I suppose they won't call this new tartan with "woodland" colors a 'Hunting' tartan will they :rolleyes:

[Moose McLennan]

It's a gorgeous tartan:

[jfellrath]

Sounds like a good use of tartan power! Save the earth and create a beautiful new tartan as well.

[Kiltman]

Fantastic. I can't think of a better use of the tartan than to do this. I'll have to order some tartan.

Question: How soon will Hamish have a kilt made out of the capercaillie tartan? I'd love to see it made up into a kilt.

[Tattoo Bradley]

I agree. What a GREAT use of the tartan .

[Alan H]

Glad I found this!

Here's a picture of a male capercaillie, displaying. Capercaillie are member of the grouse family.



capercaillie aren't just found in Scotland, they're found in several countries in northern Europe, but the capercaillie in Scotland is kind of a symbol for a huge problem in the British isles, in fact a huge problem worldwide. It's habitat destruction.

Here's a female capercaillie..





Capercaillie live in low scrub and pine/oak forests. This is a perfect description of the ancestral Caledonian forest, which is mostly gone, now. Because of that, the numbers of capercaillie have dropped precipitously over the past 100 years, going from something like 30,000 breeding pairs in Scotland, to I believe less than 5,000. That's not a lot of capercaillie in a land which used to be crawling with them.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/bird...llie/index.asp

Here's the tartan, adorning the very attractive frame of Miss Scotland, 2006.



I would wear this tartan, and in fact plan someday to own a kilt in it because 7 percent of the proceeds of the sale of the tartan go to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which understands that the REAL issue here is habitat loss. I don't know another tartan that has a direct connection to a crucial conservation issue with the possible exception of the Antarctic.

[Riverkilt]

Aye Alan,

And like this tartan the Antarctic tartan incorporates the colors of the bird it wants to protect - the penguin...also a bird with habitat loss issues.

I think I just added a new tartan to my wish list. I like how the coloring is different from clan tartans...a little variety in the wardrobe.

Be we developing a new class of kilt wearers? Kilties with a cause?

Ron

[george7]

Very beautiful.. eh.. tartan.