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That's true, you CAN camp on Bornish machair, or indeed on any other stretch of machair. The question is, should you? To quote from a Scottish Agricultural College manual; 'The Uist machair is one of the rarest machairs in Europe... ...It is a diverse haven for an astonishing variety of wildlife'. As visitors are not currently being made aware of the fragility of the landscape on which they tip their tea dregs, do you think it's about time that visitors to the Islands were informed of the impact a camping trip could have? As a machair based crofter, I am astonished at the ease with which visitors roll up in their stately mobile homes, (or with tents big enough to have a ceilidh in), and spend several nights on MY common grazing allocation!! And in return, what exactly is given to the local economy? Oh yeah, nothing. Time for a bit of conscience searching. There are very few camping facilities in the Islands, (precisely because people are able to camp for free with impunity!) However the facilities which exist are centrally located and well managed; Shell Bay in Liniclate, Benbecula, for example, and I would urge all campers and mobile home owners to avoid potentially destroying the machair for future generations of visitors, crofters and most importantly WILDLIFE, by buying a nightly pitch for around 15 pounds. Surely the Islands are worth it? |
