Local News

John OGroat News

Small Blue Day celebration – Dunnet Forest to host special day celebrating endangered small blue butterfly

All are invited to Dunnet Community Forest on May 30 for a special event celebrating the endangered small blue butterfly.

Local messages

John OGroat News

LibDems ALMOST pick-up clean sweep in the Highlands

A round-up of the Highland and Island results in the 2026 Scottish General Election.

John OGroat News

‘Life-changing’ theatre show The Light House comes to Caithness

Writer and performer Alys Willams is bringing her ‘witty’ one-woman-show The Light House to Staxigoe Hall on May 19.

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John OGroat News

Thurso Bridgend traffic confusion, expectations of transparency, Deaf Awareness Week

Letters to the editor of the John O’Groat Journal and Caithness Courier

John OGroat News

Workers down tools for general strike, ‘Halibonanza’ for Wick fishing boat and Crazy golf course ‘the worst’

LOOKING BACK: News from the John O’Groat Journal of yesteryear

John OGroat News

Bikers rev up at Thrumster for first ever Caithness leg of international Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride

A 100-strong group of Caithness bikers are joining an international cavalcade of dapper dudes to raise money for men’s health.

John OGroat News

Caithness drivers over 70 could face mandatory eye tests under new proposals

Older motorists across Caithness could soon face mandatory formal eyesight tests to keep their driving licences, under new UK government proposals.

John OGroat News

BREAKING: Highlands and Islands list is last result declared in Scotland after 17 hour wait

Reform UK and Greens get 2 seats each, Tories, LibDems and SNP get 1 each.

John OGroat News

David Green says people ‘feel forgotten’ as LibDem unseats SNP minister Maree Todd

David Green says people ‘feel forgotten’ as takes a major scalp by unseating government minister Maree Todd.

John OGroat News

‘A totally unacceptable state of affairs’: Wick toilets are vandalised again

Vandals have struck again at Whitechapel Road – leaving a trail of destruction that included an apparent attempt to set fire to a sanitary bin.

John OGroat News

Wick hotel’s latest whisky-tasting night takes total for charities to almost £17,000

The Nethercliffe’s latest whisky event raised £2500, divided between the Laurandy Centre and the League of Friends of Caithness General Hospital.

John OGroat News

Turnout down by 10 per cent in all three Highland constituencies compared to 2021

Huge drops were seen in Caithness, Sutherland and Ross; Inverness and Nairn and Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch.

John OGroat News

‘No immediate danger’: Inspection carried out after latest stonework fall from Thurso building

Checks have been carried out on a Thurso town centre hotel after fragments of stonework fell onto the pavement below.

John OGroat News

£6m confirmed for Far North Line works

Around £6 million will be spent during major works that will close a key Highland rail line for three weeks this summer, it has emerged.

John OGroat News

Live coverage of the Scottish Parliament elections in the Highlands from the count in Inverness

Nine seats in Holyrood up for grabs in three constituencies and the region.

John OGroat News

‘The people always have the last word’

The Real Mackay by Dan Mackay

John OGroat News

Caithness Family History Society’s May meeting is at Nucleus archive in Wick

Caithness Family History Society’s May meeting will be at Nucleus, the Nuclear and Caithness Archive at Wick, on May 12 – all are welcome.

John OGroat News

‘Where has the money gone?’ Wick complaint over Caithness demonstrator project

Wick community councillors are to complain to the local authority over its alleged lack of communication on a £750,000 government funding programme.

John OGroat News

‘We need to stand up for Caithness’: Olrig Hill ‘absolutely not the place for a wind farm’

Proposals to build 200m wind turbines and a BESS on Olrig Hill have been condemned as an attempt to “industrialise our countryside by stealth”.

John OGroat News

Wick call for funding allocation to fix damaged pavements

Wick is facing a “serious situation” over the state of some of the pavements in and around the town, community councillors heard this week.