Machair

[anteros_lmc]

I mentioned to aletheiafelinea that I'd been trying, rather unsuccessfully, to take more pictures of flower meadows while I was on holiday and promised to post them, so here they are! This is the machair, a unique coastal land form found only in the north west of Scotland, and most commonly in the Outer Hebrides. The machair is a low lying fertile grassland between coastal sand dunes and inland moor formed by windblown shell sand overlain by thin soils*. In the summer months the machair is awash with wild flowers and it used to be said that sailors approaching the Hebrides from the west could smell the machair long before the islands came into view. Early in the season the white and yellow flowers dominate (daisy, bedstraw, yellow vetches), followed by pinks and purples (wild thyme, clover, orchids) and finally the glorious blues (harebell, scabious, self heal, blue vetch). These pictures are of the machair behind Traigh na Berie. I've been coming here since I was a kid and have been trying to photograph it for over thirty years, but not a single picture I've ever taken does it justice. Of course having a proper camera rather than a decrepit old iphone might help :}

Traigh na Berie	Lots and lots and lots of flowers!
Harebell and bedstraw	Clover and Hebridean spotted orchid
Hebridean spotted orchid	Lesser butterfly orchid and Hebridean spotted orchid

* Many moons ago I studied the machair as part of both my higher geography dissertation and my archaeology masters thesis. Can you tell? :}

Comments

[vespican.livejournal.com]

IMHO pics came out nice!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I really do need to get a camera or a newer phone though, my current one is on its last legs.

[vespican.livejournal.com]

I'd say you got your money's worth, based on the quality of the photos you've posted over the years.
Dave

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

I can see the sunny grassy smell that might rise from those flowers, and place itself over the smells of salt and seaweed.

I have heard it said that the salt smell is not really the smell of the sea, not for people. We only notice it when we have been away, it is the smell of the edges of things. Certainly I never notice it unless I am returning to it.

So that field of flowers is the smell of the land edges too. I do have a fondness for flowery fields.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

It smells absolutely gorgeous :)

I have heard it said that the salt smell is not really the smell of the sea, not for people. We only notice it when we have been away, it is the smell of the edges of things. Certainly I never notice it unless I am returning to it.
Yes, you're right. Once you've been on the machair for a day or so, you stop noticing the smell. That's one of the things that makes returning there periodically so heavenly.

I do have a fondness for flowery fields.
You do indeed! Though a pair of amorous lieutenants wouldn't find much cover on the machair, those flowers are only a couple of inches tall! Never mind, there are plenty of sand dunes and hills to provide a little privacy ;)

[katriona-s.livejournal.com]

They are just wonderful, breathtaking scenery!!! So beautiful and serene. You don't know how I envy you who can visit these place often. I really have to plan to visit your islands in near future though I'm not sure when I can take long enough holidays to go to, stay & back from there...

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

The machair really is stunning. People always talk about the beautiful beaches in the hebrides but to my mind it's machair that's the real glory of the islands. I do hope you'll have an opportunity to visit one day.

[amaraal.livejournal.com]

I agree to katriona_s. You'd need a lifetime to see all of it. Pity. When you have enough time, you lack the money and vice versa... Damnit! :)
But what a beautiful place! Thanks for posting the pics.

[nodbear.livejournal.com]

Anteros you need Amaraal to get your photo ( though you are no mean capturer of the scenes yourself.
I must get Amaraal to send you the one she took of the meadow near her back in the Spring and you will see what I mean :)

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Tbh I defy anyone to capture the real glory of the machair! The flowers grow much lower than in crop meadows, the ones in the pictures above are little more than two or three inches tall.

[aletheiafelinea.livejournal.com]

Can you tell? :}
I can. I feel professionally informed. Therefore I think we can consider these photos as scientific & documental ones. ;D

it used to be said that sailors approaching the Hebrides from the west could smell the machair long before the islands came into view.
I can believe it. It even looks fragrant.

One can tell it's a place made of flowers, so I think the photos have the hardest point achieved. And it does show the beauty of it, too! But yes, I do believe the real thing must be so much more, cause it always is. *wistful sigh* By the way, do you have, like me, hard times when trying to decide about the composition? I never know if great swathes of grass and herbs are better with horizon or without it. *g*

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

(Late comment is late....)

One can tell it's a place made of flowers, so I think the photos have the hardest point achieved.
Yay! Mission accomplished :D Of course what really makes a difference here is the light. The clouds move so quickly that the light can change very suddenly. It was a rather dull overcast day when I took some of these pictures. I'm rather sad the beautiful green orchid is out of focus, but the camera on my phone is so rubbish that there is no way to manually focus it.

By the way, do you have, like me, hard times when trying to decide about the composition? I never know if great swathes of grass and herbs are better with horizon or without it. *g*
Ha! Yes, absolutely! I have multiple versions of these pictures, some with sky, some without, some with more sky, some with less.

[aletheiafelinea.livejournal.com]

Of course what really makes a difference here is the light. The clouds move so quickly that the light can change very suddenly.
This, how very much this! I thought about this matter recently, taking certain set of photos... which I should go and work on, instead reading fandom things right now. ^^'

I have multiple versions of these pictures, some with sky, some without, some with more sky, some with less.
And the longer you're trying different crops, and more versions you have, the more unable to decide you are... Yeah. *g*

[nodbear.livejournal.com]

Beautiful and very evocative -and yes with a true scholarly under pinning of course ;)

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

You know me, I'm such a geek. Even when it comes to flowers :}

[shepet.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful place!
Flowers and sea in close vicinity are amazing and awesome!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

It really is wonderful, I wish you could see it :)