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The Orkney Brewery has announced that it will launch a brand new ale this spring.

Corncrake will be the first new ale to come out of the brewery’s recently expanded site at Quoyloo, in Orkney’s west mainland.

Named after the rare and elusive bird found in the islands, Corncrake is a 4.1% ale, described by the brewing team at Quoyloo as being straw gold in colour, with a white creamy head, soft citrus fruit and gentle floral notes.

Corncrake will be on general release around May and June, though major pub chain JD Weatherspoon is featuring the ale in its national beer festival later this month. Other exclusive releases of Corncrake are also planned before the ale goes on sale countrywide.

BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year City Halls, Glasgow

After tremendous competition from the best young musicians in Scotland it was 22-year-old Orcadian fiddler Kristan Harvey who carried off the prize, the best of the best, with her lusciously full-toned, deeply felt version of a Paul Anderson slow air, and some thrillingly fiery dance tunes, further fuelled by touches of bluegrass and jazz.

AN ALMOST intact human skull which may date back 5,000 years has been exhumed from a tomb in South Ronaldsay in Orkney.

The burial chamber containing a collection of bones was discovered by local skipper Hamish Mowatt, who caught a glimpse inside the tomb in September, when he was working the land at the Banks bistro owned by his fiancée, Carole Fletcher.

Archeologists believe the layout of the newly uncovered tomb may shed light on the rituals and beliefs of our neolithic ancestors. Dan Lee, project officer with the Orkney Research Centre for Archeology, said: "It's an important site because it gives us the chance to investigate a tomb using modern archaeological techniques.

"This site seems to have been excavated into a natural mound. They quarried out inside this natural mound, into the bedrock, and then constructed the tomb inside, laying capstones over five cells and an internal passageway.

"The doorways to the cells were sealed off with very clean clay, so, not only were they laying the tomb to rest, they were sealing it off quite carefully and deliberately. This shows the concern Orcadian neolithic society had for its ancestors."

STEPS are afoot to introduce a five pence discount on fuel duty for Orkney and other island communities, the chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander announced at the Scottish LibDems autumn conference at Dunfermline.

The move, which could still take some time to deliver, was hailed as “great news” by local isles MP and Government Whip Alistair Carmichael. Alistair has been campaigning for this duty reduction for at least 10 years and it will be very welcome News for Islanders who currently pay up to 15p a litre more than UK mainland prices.

A device thought to be the largest tidal turbine of its type to be built in the world has arrived in Orkney for testing. Trials on the device will be run at a European Marine Energy Centre test site off Eday.

The device stands 22.5m (73ft) tall, weighs 1,300 tonnes and has two sets of blades on a single unit.