Shona MacLellan is RSPB Scotland's Community Engagement Officer for the Outer Hebrides. Shona grew up surrounded by the machair on South Uist and has been telling us just what this special landscape means to her.
The machair (the ch is pronounced as in loch) is often described as a low-lying fertile grass land or plain that has an abundance of flowers blooming on it every summer. But the machair means so much more to me. The word machair conjures up the image of home. Growing up on the west coast of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides meant the machair was my playground. In Gaelic, which is my first language, South Uist is known as ‘Tir a’ Mhurain’ (Land of the Marram Grass). This patch of land is what keeps the Atlantic Ocean from our door. The word machair comes from the Gaelic for grassland or fertile plain. There is not one English word that describes what this type of habitat is, so many use the Gaelic word. As an islander, the machair is where the crofters plant oats and potatoes (although not as many do this now) especially in the springtime. It’s where the sheep graze with their lambs and the cows with their calves, finding nutrition in the early growth of grass.
Machair is crucial for nature but also for crofting communities. Image credit: Shona MacLellan
But here is where you will also find the Lapwings calling, scurrying along, waiting to see if you are a threat or not before taking to the skies to distract you so you don’t know where their clutch of eggs is hidden in the grass. In Gaelic we called a Lapwing a ‘Curracag’ because that is what it’s call sounds like. Many species names in Gaelic give an indication of its behaviour. We have a saying that describes the lapwing’s call, as sung below by the pupils of Tong Primary, Lewis:
“Peewit, Peewit, cò chreich mo nead? Cò chreich mo nead?”
“Peewit, Peewit, who raided my nest? Who raided my nest?”
Lapwings are among the many birds which rely on machair to nest or feed. Image credit: Shona MacLellan
Come July though, that’s really when the machair bursts into life. Every colour of flower appears, yellow marigolds, linen-white daises, red poppies and dark-pink clovers. The smell of the machair is something to put on the bucket list and experience on a hot summer’s day. The bees and butterflies love gathering nectar from the flowers. Insects love this habitat and where there are insects there are birds feasting on them. Redshanks, Snipe, Oystercatchers, Twite, Starlings, Lapwings, and Swallows can all be seen probing the sandy soil or catching an in-flight snack.
The UK has lost 97% of its wildflower meadows since the 1940s, so the conservation of machair is more important than ever. Image credit: Shona MacLellan
It's also the favourite hiding place of one particular bird, the Corncrake. When it first arrives in April, it hides among the irises and Cow Parsley that grows on the ‘breac-talamh’ (speckled land), the land between the moor and the machair. By July the grass on the machair is long enough for the Corncrake to hide in and it moves to the longer vegetation to have its second brood.
Corncrakes are rare and elusive birds. You're more likely to hear one than see one. Image credit: Cliff Reddick
By September, the frenzy of summer starts to die down, the harvesting begins and our summer visitors head off back to warmer climes. The Lapwings and Oystercatchers stay, and joining them are our winter visitors, the Barnacle Geese and other waterfowl.
The machair is unique, a habitat only found in a few areas of the west coast of Scotland and Ireland. It’s mainly made of a mix of sand and soil, more sand in some areas. But in the last 40 years, the west coast of Uist has been gradually eating away. Coastal erosion is not new, even in the 1800s, more Marram grass was planted to help slow down the erosion thanks to its deep root system that can hold sand together. This provided protection to the grazing areas and where waders love to nest. Over the years though this is slowly disappearing with wetter and windier weather all year round (seasons, what seasons?). These areas are also under threat from climate change (rising sea level, more powerful storms, and wetter summers) which may have an impact in years to come.
Species such as Marram grass act as an important defence mechanism against coastal erosion. Image credit: Shona MacLellan
Although there are many threats to the machair, there are many more species making the machair their home. Recently, the Northern Colletes (a type of bee) and the Short-necked Oil Beetle were found on our RSPB Scotland Balranald reserve. Both species are nationally rare and can only be found in a handful of places. Blink and you might miss them as they are small. They are part of a new conservation project called Species on the Edge which is helping look after the habitats that these species are found.
Rare habitats are often home to rare species, such as this Short-necked Oil Beetle. Image credit: Suzanne Burgess
As I said at the beginning, when I hear the word machair and it conjures an image of home, it’s not just my home but the home of many of the different species of bird and insect. I hope we continue to live together for many years to come.
To learn more about RSPB Scotland's Balranald nature reserve, click here.
Header image: A dense field of machair, containing red clover, birds foot trefoil and other wildflowers, by Shona MacLellan.