Cropped Machair on South Uist

As BTCV's Natural Talent Machair apprentice I felt I should at least show people what I have been doing during the last 14 months on the Outer Hebrides.

Apologies in advance of all the "eeeehs" and "umms"

Category:

Education

Tags:

• south
• uist
• btcv
• natural
• talent
• machair
• apprentice
• north
• benbecula
• cropped
• stacks
• traditional
• rspb

[chriszanf]

Interesting video and thanks for that.

A few camera tips (apart from whats already been said) but try not to put your back to the sun in future as it blows out being able to see you if it hits the camera. I have been making cycling journals and make the same mistake: hold the camera too low and have my back to the sun.

[TheMachairman]

@chriszanf Thanks for the tip. I stupidly wasn't thinking about the quality or the shaking and it shows.

i'll be sure to pack a tripod next set of videos I make.

[trippedbreaker]

@TheMachairman Seriously, I concur with draoi99; if you had someone to hold your camera, you'd be really good at this. It's great to hear someone expounding upon something about which they have deep knowledge and passion.

[TheMachairman]

@trippedbreaker It's a real shame that I didn't think in advance because I have a tripod and a camcorder in my flat. It was just a spur of the moment thing to do.

If anything else interesting comes up I may do some more but we're getting into the final weeks of my time here.

Thank you for your kind words, check out the other videos, you can see how the traditional stacks were done

[AccordionTheif]

Your accent is sexy.

[TheMachairman]

@trippedbreaker Absolutely, i hope no one gets motion sickness

[TheMachairman]

@draoi99 The machair technically would be classed as a grassland plain with the sand blowing on top of it.

There's a tiny drop on Ireland so it's well worth a visit, only the Uists still crop it in this manner now though. Try and get people to start cropping again!

[trippedbreaker]

@draoi99 But a terrible camera operator :-)

[draoi99]

I really liked this video. In Ireland, the word "machaire" means a plain, or an area of flat land. I didn't know the habitat was so rare. You would make a very good TV nature presenter.