Changes in the Management of Scottish Machair Communities and Associated Habitats from the 1970s to the Present

Abstract

Machair is a cultural landscape of high conservation value, but concern has been raised about the possible impacts of land use change on biodiversity. Using a combination of interviews with crofters, farmers and township clerks alongside data from the June Agricultural Census, this article identifies the major land use changes that have occurred between the 1970s and the present (2009/2010). In crofting areas, there has been a substantial fall in the amount of arable cropping and a concentration of this land use practice on North and South Uist. Associated with this change is a reduction in strip cultivation, increased use of inorganic fertilisers and increased plough depths. In parallel, there have been changes on the crofting inbye: reduced cropping, a switch from hay to silage and a shift in summer grazing from the hill ground to the inbye. Both farming and crofting areas have seen a fall in cattle numbers and sheep numbers peaked prior to 2000, but in general land use has been more stable in farmed areas of the machair. Changes have been partly technology-led, but much of the change can be attributed to a reduction by half in the number of active crofters over this period.