Wildfire from The Woods by Hamish Napier
16. Wildfire
In the Scottish Gaelic alphabet 'O' is for the gorse bush or broom bush.
OIR [Ohr]
ONN [Oh-wyn]
- Gorse, whin, furze, atain, conasg, bearaghach, Ulex europaeus.
- Broom, bealaidh, bealach, giolc, sguab, brim, breem, Cytisus scoparius.
This track is a warning against forest fires. During a dry summer an unextinguished cigarette butt or unattended campfire can ignite plants and shrubs and rapidly spread out of control, wiping out acres of precious ancient forest. In 1960, Rothiemurchus was destroyed by a terrible fire. The peat still burned for four months until it was finally doused by heavy rainfall. The marks of burning may be observed on the bark of some of the oldest trees. There were other fires in 1731 and 1746. Sir Walter Scott once wrote (in a letter to Lord Montagu on 23rd June, 1822) about a fire in 1770, when the Laird of Grant had to send out the Fiery Cross for help. 500 men assembled, "who could only stop the conflagration by cutting a gap of 500 yards in width betwixt the burning wood and the rest of the forest.”
Both gorse and broom can be referred to as whin and from a distance both can appear quite similar. They also happen to be highly inflammable when set alight, hence the old Scots expression “to flee up like a whun buss” (to lose one’s temper). A hillside covered in gorse or broom in vibrant bloom on summer evenings was said to resemble a wildfire. In the hot summer sun their seed pods explode with a wee crack, spreading the seeds around. Gorse is a large, evergreen shrub, covered in needle-like leaves and has distinctive dark-yellow, coconut scented flowers. Common gorse blooms from January to June whilst Western Gorse waits until the autumn. It was used as fodder for livestock, fuel for firing bread ovens and was bound to make chimney brushes. Broom is a large deciduous shrub of heaths and coasts. Unlike gorse, broom has short flattened leaves and no spines. Its vanilla-scented light-yellow flowers appear from April to June.
Tracklist
| 16. | Wildfire | 1:39 |
Credits
Musicians:
HN: piano
IW: fiddle, viola, strings
SL: cello
JL: bass
SB: drums
All tracks composed by H Napier PRS/MCPS.
Produced by Andrea Gobbi & H Napier.
Arranged by S Byrnes & H Napier.
Recorded, mixed & mastered by A Gobbi at GloWorm Recordings & Carrier Waves, Glasgow.
Additional recordings by Barry Reid on location in Hamish’s livingroom, Grantown-on-Spey.
Field recordings by H Napier, W Boyd-Wallis and P Smith.
