Machair LIFE+

Machair is the Gaelic name for a rare and distinct type of coastal grassland that supports a huge diversity of wildlife in the Hebrides of Scotland.
This is the story of crofting on the machair in the 21st century and a partnership project to support this unique landscape.

[@ClaireCelticMystic]

I love seeing humans caring for the biodiversity, which invites our own resilience and well being. Crofting is crucial. I am here to assist this growing into popularity, with more enthusiastic young crofters!

[@margaretsmallallan28]

An Argyll bairn here! I remember the seaweed being garnered and spread on the Inby and outby fields when there was crops to be grown! Turnips were grown every few years, as they put nitrogen into the soil for uture crops to flourish! The glen in which I was reared had poor soil, and it had to be cared for in a special manner, in order to coax as much produce as possible, as it kept the beasts fed in the winter months! .....old Tich.

[@the1highlander1]

It is great that the machair is now being taken care of be those English bodies. Teaching the Islanders how to look after the land and the plants which grow upon it. The whole thing could so easily have been lost anytime during the last ten centuries. I especially liked the girl at 10:51 she has a great idea there teach school leavers how to live and work their people's land.

[@RedLester09]

Quite. Tapadh leibh

[@mozdickson]

Beautiful, thank you to all Crofters and kin and those strengthening this valuable work and life. Gum beannaicheadh ​​Dia thu

[@nicolafigini784]

Great little film.

[@seanirishterrier6588]

If I had the money, I’d be a crofter tomorrow

[@pegjones7682]

Id need to be about 40 years younger too,this is incredible.

[@Traveller69]

My mind is boggled that 10 years on, this wonderful wee film has so few views and 'likes' in a world supposedly obsessed with the Hebrides. I suppose it is the Instagram and Hollywood version of it that remains the draw. The family Tree that my Uncle researched back to 1745 is from Skye. So, yes, close, but also very different in innumerable ways. However (as ever), none of my 20 First Cousins born from 1968 to 1990 on Skye are still resident there and not one of them has any Scots Gaelic other than the odd phrase or greeting. Yet many have always bemoaned the 'incomer' who fills this void of disinterested youth that the film highlights. The islands need PEOPLE. I believe that taking children 8-14 on field trips to the Central Belt and indeed English Schools would be beneficial. Yes, for some it would further fire their desire to leave the islands. However, for an equal number the penny would drop regarding sides of bread and what was buttered. Retain a few...and build on that. Wonderful film. A decade on. RIP Ivan. ❤

[@Skyebright1]

As the elderly lady pointed out, it’s a difficult job financially

[@marianfrances4959]

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