Photo Journal: Machair Wildflowers on the Isle of Coll
The island of Coll is breathtakingly beautiful. The sort of place where you leave a little piece of your heart behind when you finally bring yourself to leave.
The sweeping arc of Feall Bay, on the southwestern coast of CollThe beaches of Feall and Crossapol are separated by a fixed dune system rising over 50 metres in places, including a large swathe of flower-rich machair
The turquoise waters of the Sea of the Hebrides wash up on sweeping silver-white beaches backed by lofty, marram-clad dunes, reaching over 50 metres high behind the strand at Feall. Between the coastal bents and the bogs and bare rock inland, is a rare place; machair, a habitat unique to the Hebrides, the fringes of northwestern Scotland, and western coast of Ireland.
I started to rue not paying attention when being taught the names of wildflowers by my Granny. But I do know this is silverweed, and prefers damp spots close to the shore.I think this dandelion-like flower is a type of hawkweed.Sea pink, also known as thrift, and stonecrop clings to niches in the bare rock.Wild thyme and ladies bedstraw form a dense, deeply-scented carpet on the machair.
In her 2018 book Wilding, Isabella Tree recounts several alarming statistics about the state of nature across the British and Irish Isles, including the fact that around ninety per cent of wildflower meadows have been lost since the Second World War. This has had a devastating knock-on effect on invertebrate fauna, and the birds which depend on them.
The machair of the Western Isles is a last stronghold, lavish with wildflowers through the spring and summer. Common species like red and white clover, buttercups, daisies, wild thyme, ladies bedstraw, and bird’s foot trefoil carpet the pasture, with a scattering of rarer species like the Hebridean spotted orchid and Heath orchid. The area around Hough Bay is a hotspot for bloody cranesbill.
A blanket of daisies and buttercups cover the machair next to the RSPB reserve carpark.Machair wildflowers are vital for rare bumblebees, such as the great yellow bumblebee, once common across the British and Irish Isles, and now restricted to a few areas in the Hebrides.The machair was traditionally used for summer livestock grazing and hay cutting. It would have been exactly like the scything scenes in Poldark.The size of that handsome lad. He’s so tiny and cute.The island of Coll, and neighbouring Tiree, are reputed to have the highest number of sunshine hours anywhere in Scotland.I think this might be saxifrage, or maybe eyebright. I do have a very good flora guide (Warne, The Wild Flower Key), but I’m just not very good at using it.There are three or four different species of orchid found on Coll and Tiree.
Sea pinks (thrift) and stonecrop find refuge among the rocks. Ragged robin, meadowsweet, and beds of yellow flag (iris) define wetter areas, and provide the preferred hiding spots for crackling, croaking corncrakes, often heard but rarely seen on their summer sojourn from southern Africa.
I’m pretty sure that these pictures are all of the same kind of orchid.They are either the Hebridean spotted orchid or the heath spotted orchid, though they can hybridise. I also saw early march orchids, but my photo was rubbish.A green-veined white caterpillar chomping on a creeping willow.Hay meadows in the in-bye can conceal corncrakes; the crackling calls that give them their scientific name, Crex crex, the only clue to their presence
The drowsy, blossom-sweet scent of the machair charges the air on a warm day in June, enough that passing ships catch a draught on the breeze, like a half-remembered afternoon from childhood. From the beginning of May to midsummer, the machair belongs to the skylarks, singing more than 18 hours a day, from dawn to dusk, and rare bees, bumbling through the flowers, honey-drunk on nectar.
The sandy machair merges into the blackland of peat moors and bogs, and the plant community changes.Bell heather, ling, crowberry, bog cotton, and even some rare alpine species are found on the higher ground.
2 thoughts on “Photo Journal: Machair Wildflowers on the Isle of Coll”
Haven’t actually set foot on Coll, but I’ve been to its neighbour, Tiree. However, we stopped at Coll on the way there, and, in Coll Harbour, I saw my very first whale (a minke) from the deck of the ferry.
These Vagabond Shoes. 
Haven’t actually set foot on Coll, but I’ve been to its neighbour, Tiree. However, we stopped at Coll on the way there, and, in Coll Harbour, I saw my very first whale (a minke) from the deck of the ferry.