The flower-rich machair along South Uist's Atlantic edge, miles of low grassland and empty white beach, out on the far western islands
The west coast of South Uist is one long strip of machair — the low, sandy, flower-rich grassland that forms where shell sand blows in off Atlantic beaches. In early summer it comes up thick with wildflowers and the birds that nest among them, backed by dunes and mile after mile of empty sand.
The area covers 133 km². It is level, gentle ground, dotted with reminders of long settlement. The standing stone at Pollachar looks south across the sound, a little castle sits on its loch islet at Caisteal Bheagram, and the headland of Rudha Ardvule pushes out into the sea. Inland, hills such as Airneabhal rise off the moor.
This is far-west island country, reached by ferry or a small plane and open to the full force of the Atlantic. Late spring and summer show it at its best, when the machair is in flower.
