Tour Scotland Video Purple And White Scottish Heather

Tour Scotland video of Purple and White Scottish Heather in Perthshire, Scotland. Heather is an important food source for various sheep and deer which can graze the tips of the plants when snow covers low-growing vegetation. Willow Grouse and Red Grouse feed on the young shoots and seeds of this plant. Formerly heather was used to dye wool yellow and to tan leather. With malt, heather is an ingredient in gruit, a mixture of flavourings used in the brewing of heather-beer during the Middle Ages before the use of hops. White heather is regarded in Scotland as being lucky, a tradition brought from Balmoral to England by Queen Victoria and sprigs of it are often sold as a charm and worked into bridal bouquets. Heather stalks are used by a small industry in Scotland as a raw material for sentimental jewelry. The stalks are stripped of bark, dyed in bright colors and then compressed with resin.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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