I've had a page on the website called "Settling under the Saltire - the Irish in Scotland" for a wee while as I gave a talk on this very subject in Dublin a few years ago.  The page provides details of all the resources and useful websites that I highlight in the talk.  However, I recently completed some Scottish research for a client and enjoyed exercising all my hard-won search skills solving people puzzles on the ScotlandsPeople website. 
I give out a few of these tips in the talk but I realised that there were several more I could share, plus of course, I didn't want to forget them myself for my next foray into the records!

So I've created a new page - Search Tips for ScotlandsPeople - which you can find under Techniques accessed from the drop-down menu under Recipes or simply follow the green link above.  I'll try to remember to add to them if I learn more tricks and of course, it would be great to hear your suggestions for getting the most from this website.

I'm now feeling inspired to do the same sort of thing for my favourite Irish websites and will let you know when they are published.

I have recently returned from a trip to Dublin where I was presenting a talk to the Irish Genealogical Research Society at their Open Day.  My theme was "Finding the Irish in Scotland". Whilst a great many Irish made the long trek west to America in the 19th century and early 20th century, not insignificant numbers also turned east and headed to Scotland, several of my own ancestors amongst them, as the vexillogical representation of my family tree to the left shows.  You may have similar branches in your own tree or perhaps a sibling of an ancestor has disappeared with rumours of going to Scotland.  



​My advice is to spend some time hunting for them as Scottish records are quite simply wonderful with respect to the level of detail recorded.  You may well find details within Scottish records that will help you to get further back in your research in Ireland, especially if you have not uncommon names to wrestle with.  If you would like some advice on where to look and how to understand what you find better, take a look at my latest dish served up under "Foreign Fare" entitled "Settling under the Saltire".