Pirates Head to Scotland Aiming for Strong Start in Bid to Reach Final

Cork too strong for Harps as they maintain big FD lead

Cork City wrapped up their fifth consecutive win and fourth clean sheet in a row with a four-goal victory to reinforce their 12-point lead atop the First Division table.

More than 30 orcas sighted in six days as whales pass Scotland

The orca were spotted by trained volunteers on the hunt for the majestic sea beasts

Your pictures of Scotland: Photographs from around the country

A selection of photographs submitted to BBC Scotland News from around the country this week.

Country diary: Today was once a public holiday, thanks to these oak 'apples'

The Marches, Shropshire: You never know what kind of parasites you might find lurking in an old tree“Oak apple day, the 29th of May,” is a rhyming reminder of the public holiday ordered by Charles II to celebrate the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. After his escape from parliamentarians by hiding in an oak tree at Boscobel in Shropshire, it is no great leap of imagination to associate a hidden king with oak apples: parasitic galls are stran…

Pirates head to Scotland aiming for strong start in bid to reach final

PIRATES head to Edinburgh for their first away trip north of the border this season as they aim to make a strong start in their bid for their first…