machair
This article is about a geographic landform. For the TV series, see Machair (TV series)
The Scottish Gaelic word machair or machar refers to a fertile low-lying raised beach found on the some of the coastlines of Ireland and Scotland, in particular the Outer Hebrides. Two distinct types exist:
- A type of sand-dune pasture, subject to agricultural cultivation, which prevails in wet and windy conditions;
- The land between a beach and the area where sand encroaches on peat bogs further inland.
In both cases, a machair is a former beach, left higher in elevation than the current adjacent beach following a drop in sea level.
Machairs largely owe their fertility to the fact their sand has a high seashell content- sometimes as high as 90%. This sand is blown inland, adding to the fertility of the grassland.
Machairs have received considerable ecological and conservational attention, chiefly because of their unique ecosystems. They can house rare carpet flowers, such as Irish Lady's Tresses, orchids and Yellow Rattle,[1] along with a diverse array of bird species including the corn crake, twite, dunlin, redshank and ringed plover, as well as rare insects such as the northern colletes bee. Some machairs are threatened by erosion caused by rising sea levels as well as by recreational use of vicinity beaches.
Endnotes
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
