I am in love with the machair and every time I find myself near it I feel the magic of this most spectacular feature in nature. Machair, a Gaelic word meaning fertile, low-lying grassy plain, refers to a unique habitat that is one of the scarcest in Europe. It is only to be found on the west facing shores of Scotland and Ireland and nowhere else on the globe. I have yet to take what I hope will be my definitive picture of the Machair but today I might have come close on the Isle of Barra. The ordinance map shows “dunes” across from the Barra airport. A short walk up the path to the summit of the enormous dune brings you through a dense grassland that defies description. Here is the machair at its best but it was the jaw dropping view from the summit that stopped me in its tracks. In front of me lay the most stunning beach I have yet encountered on my travels through the Outer Hebrides and I just stopped and gave myself a few moments to take it all in. This is a place to revisit – and I did go back at sunset only to have the clouds roll in – and photograph over and over until I can capture its essence. That may not be possible because standing there on top of the dune with the ocean and expansive white beach below is a spiritual experience that cannot be captured by the camera. It must be experienced.
