Capturing the coastlines

Scotland’s crumbling coastlines should be recorded before it’s too late, according to University of St Andrews researchers.

Researchers seeking to preserve the country’s striking and varied coastal scenery are appealing to adults and children to capture the coastline on camera before it is irreversibly damaged by rising tides and worsening storms.

The `Capturing the Coastline’ competition, run by SCAPE (Scottish Coastal Archaeology and the Problem of Erosion) is offering up to £1000 for the adult or £500 worth of prizes for the child who captures the best image illustrating any aspect of Scotland’s coastline. Winning images will form part of a year-long touring exhibition.

The national competition, split into two age categories (18 and over and under 18’s) aims to raise awareness of Scotland’s coastal heritage, with particular emphasis on changes caused by climate change, erosion, storms and sea level rise.

Labhaoise McKenna, a SCAPE Project Officer based at the University’s Institute for Environmental History said, “The competition theme is `Scotland’s heritage on the edge’. Take up to five photographs based on this theme and show us what coastal heritage means to you”.

Photographs can be submitted as exhibition-ready prints. Full details and entry forms are available at the competition website – www.scapetrust.org/ctc

In addition to the top prize of £1000, the runner-up will win a whisky-making course at Bruichladdich Distillery, Islay.  Under 18’s can compete for a prize to the value of £500 plus £500 for their school, or a runner-up prize to the value of £200. The closing date is 25 June 2007.

Selected winning photos will form part of a national exhibition. Launching at the National Trust for Scotland headquarters, it will then go on show at a range of other Scottish venues including the Scottish Parliament, the Gateway in St Andrews and various other venues across mainland Scotland and islands from September 2007 until September 2008.

SCAPE seeks to research, conserve and promote the archaeology of Scotland’s coast. SCAPE is particularly interested in remains that are threatened by coastal erosion. It runs the award-winning Shorewatch project, which encourages and assists members of local communities to become involved in practical archaeology and help salvage threatened sites – www.shorewatch.co.uk

To date, SCAPE has initiated the detailed examination of eroding sites on the coasts of Shetland, North Uist and Sutherland. The team has also managed a series of coastal surveys around Scotland. SCAPE has also undertaken research into fish traps on the Moray Firth and Firth of Forth and has worked on developing airborne remote sensing as a means of finding sites buried in the dunes of Coll and Tiree.

ENDS

Issued by Press Office, University of St Andrews

Contacts:

Claire Grainger, Press Officer – 01334 462530, 07730 415 015 or email [email protected]

Gayle Cook, Press Officer – 01334 462529, 07900 050 103 or email [email protected]

Ref: scapephotographyScotland

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