31/01/2026
Berneray Smiddy looks out onto one of the rarest habitats in the world, the machair.
Machair is a Scottish Gaelic word for the fertile, low-lying coastal grassland plain found exclusively on the exposed west-facing shores of Scotland and Ireland, and Berneray has one of the finest.
Over thousands of years, nutrient-rich shell sand blown inland formed an ecosystem supporting a rich diversity of wildflowers, breeding waders, and rare insects. This is maintained by light cattle-grazing, hay cutting and low intensity rotational crop farming free of artificial fertilisers or pesticides.
Natural fertiliser of seaweed, and dung from grazing livestock, has, over time, bound together and stabilised the land. Crofters have for millennia ploughed it in rotation, giving a patchwork of crops and fallow.
Red clover, bird’s-foot-trefoil, yarrow and daisies grow, along with rarer species of flowers including varieties of orchid.
We are indebted to Coralbox Gift Shop for the use of their photographs. An award-winning shop on the island and a must visit for your souvenirs and gifts. You’ll also find them online.
Visitors can help to preserve this unique environment by:
- Not driving or parking on the machair. Vehicles can cause immense, long-lasting damage to the fragile soil and ecosystem. Use designated parking areas.
- Keep dogs on a lead, especially during spring lambing and to protect ground-nesting birds.
- Leave no trace. Take litter home with you.
- The marram grass and dry soil make the machair a high-risk area for wildfires so be particularly careful with fires and BBQs.
- When out walking, try to avoid trampling the delicate, rare wildflowers.
- Closing gates behind you and respecting crofting activities.
