The Hebridean Machair

The Hebridean Machair is a Gaelic name given to fertile low lying land bordering the exposed western coasts of Scotland and Ireland. It is one of the rarest habitats in Europe found extensively in the Outer Hebrides, Coll, Tiree and Islay. Here sand, largely made up of crushed shells, is regularly blown ashore by Atlantic gales. Over time the calcium rich shell sand and traditional crofting land practices have led to the development of a mosaic of fertile grassland habitats renowned for their wildflowers, birds and insect life. The succession from dunes to grassland and traditional arable cultivation worked in rotation. Further inland sand overlays peaty soils forming rich wetland habitats that are much favoured by breeding waders and wildfowl. Lochs and lochans are influenced by the alkaline nature of the blown sand and as a result are more fertile than they would otherwise be.

The most extensive areas of Outer Hebrides machair can be found on the West Coast of the Uists. Here you’ll see the succession from dunes to grassland and traditional arable cultivation worked in rotation. On the fallow areas that have recently been cultivated you’ll find the greatest diversity of flowers where up to 40 Western Isles plant species can be found within a square metre. This diverse plant community supports a rich insect life. It holds some of the remaining populations of the rare Great Yellow Bumblebee and on Coll and Tiree the are refugia populations of the Red-shanked Carder Bumblebee widely separated from those few that remain in southern England. The distinctive Hebridean race of the Moss Carder Bumblebee is widespread throughout the islands. The machair bustles with bird life at all times of year. Corncrakes and breeding waders are the most distinctive spring arrivals. Large flocks of geese, Lapwing and Golden Plover over winter. Black-tailed Godwits, Ruff and Whimbrel stop off to feed whilst on migration. Vagrants from North America and elsewhere turn up annually.