machair

Already the first brown areas are appearing on the machair where well-rotted weed has been spread not only to enrich the light sandy soil but also to help bind it in a way artificial fertilisers never could.

Country diary: South Uist 2011

I search in vain but, though it grows fainter with distance the song itself accompanies me across the machair to the ridge of the dunes and the first sight of the sea.

Country diary: South Uist 2011

Soon the bull, duty done, will be off to his winter quarters while most of the others will be moved on to the machair, where they will play their part in the crofting cycle which maintains one of Britain's rarest ecosystems.

Country diary: South Uist 2010

White beaches, standing stones, flowers on the machair, Gaelic psalm-singing (which sounds like no other church music in Europe - a Chinese or Mongolian feel to it) and monstrous alcohol consumption on a Saturday night (an Englishman is best advised to avoid Stornoway dockside bars) followed by a real Sabbath - no shops, taxis, bars - you go for a walk or go to church.

Archive 2005-06-26 Laban 2005

White beaches, standing stones, flowers on the machair, Gaelic psalm-singing (which sounds like no other church music in Europe - a Chinese or Mongolian feel to it) and monstrous alcohol consumption on a Saturday night (an Englishman is best advised to avoid Stornoway dockside bars) followed by a real Sabbath - no shops, taxis, bars - you go for a walk or go to church.

Local Democracy Laban 2005

"The machair, which has been acting as a barrier for the last few thousands years, has come to a stage where it's within less than a foot of the Atlantic coming in and flooding vast areas of the south end of the island," he said.

Global Warming RSS Newsfeed info@ecologicalinternet.org (Scotsman: Jenny Fyall 2010

Already, he said, the machair - the coastal grassland that forms a natural sea defence - had receded dramatically along parts of the south west coast.

Global Warming RSS Newsfeed info@ecologicalinternet.org (Scotsman: Jenny Fyall 2010

Here, the sands are bordered by machair, a rich coastal grassland that helps to stabilise the sand deposits.

EcoEarth.Info Environment RSS Newsfeed Times UK 2010

Already, he said, the machair - the coastal grassland that forms a natural sea defence - had receded dramatically along parts of the south west coast.

EcoEarth.Info Environment RSS Newsfeed info@ecologicalinternet.org (Scotsman: Jenny Fyall 2010

"The machair, which has been acting as a barrier for the last few thousands years, has come to a stage where it's within less than a foot of the Atlantic coming in and flooding vast areas of the south end of the island," he said.

EcoEarth.Info Environment RSS Newsfeed info@ecologicalinternet.org (Scotsman: Jenny Fyall 2010