Broadcaster and former UK Conservative Government cabinet minister Michael Portillo visits Nigg and the Cromarty Firth, as well as Glenmorangie Distillery near Tain, while filming the BBC series Great Coastal Railway Journeys
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Former politician Michael Portillo was given an insight into the rebirth of the Port of Nigg while filming the latest episode of his BBC series Great Coastal Railway Journeys.
The broadcaster and one-time Conservative cabinet minister reached Invergordon and the Cromarty Firth in last night’s episode
He met the Global Energy Group’s Steve Chisholm, director of operations and innovation, who gave him a flavour of how employers have shifted focus from oil and gas towards renewable energy production.
Mr Portillo was seen to marvel at the colossal scale of wind turbines being readied for transport offshore.
Mr Chisholm said: “The Port of Nigg started off in oil and gas in the early seventies. From as early as 2004 onwards, we started to see the beginnings of prototype pre-production work being done in renewables.
"The thing that's really rewarding about the rebirth of this as a yard and the fast growth that's happening in renewables, is that a lot of those people, whether they're tradesmen or engineers, are actually coming back into the country, and into this region, to carry on the next wave of industrial regeneration."
Mr Portillo’s Scottish coastal railway journey takes him up the far north line, Britain’s northernmost railway.
Disembarking at Invergordon, he headed straight onto the waters of the Cromarty Firth to explore a former oil drilling rig now moored there.
It proved a tricky exercise to hoist ex-Prime Minister John Major’s former Chief Secretary to the Treasury into the air by crane and footage shows him clinging to a personnel basket.
He learned how the decline of the oil industry since its peak in the 1990s meant that, rather than drilling wells, the rig now caps old ones, securing them with cement.
Mr Portillo also helped to assemble a pipe that could stretch up to two miles long.
His next stop was Fearn, from where he headed to the mudflats and saltmarsh of Nigg Bay and the Global Energy Park.
It was there he encountered wind turbine blades that were longer than a standard football pitch.
On the shore of the Dornoch Firth, the presenter also helped in work to reintroduce his favourite delicacy to the shallow waters - oysters.
The seafood was plentiful in this region for thousands of years, but great popularity during the 19th century led to a catastrophic decline.
Oysters are now beginning to flourish again, with Mr Portillo joining Heriot Watt University’s team effort to establish 200,000 oysters at Dornoch within the next three years.
He also visited Glenmorangie whisky distillery where he learned about the famous 16 men of Tain who produce the fine single malts.
The science and art of whisky production were revealed to Mr Portillo as he toured the distillery.
