The Natural Environment

Peatland

Much of the islands in the Hebrides are covered by peat, a dark and fibrous soil made from dead plant matter. It usually forms a smooth skin over undulating hills and rocks and occurs in deep deposits in wetter hollows and rock basins.

Lewis has one of the biggest areas of uninterrupted blanket bog in Britain. Blanket bog has a unique drainage system with areas of small, shallow pools interspersed with drier hummocks of vegetation. When rainfall exceeds the loss of water through drainage, the soil becomes waterlogged. High acidity levels means that bacteria is unable to rot dead vegetation.

Many plants and animals, however, have adapted to live in this environment. There are peatland flowers like Cotton Grass, the insect eating Sundew, Bog Asphodel, Deer Grass and Bogbean as well as the more usual Cross Leaved Heath, Mosses and Sedges.

Heather rules this landscape and there are beautiful displays of purple, pink and blue heather carpeting the moors in late summer.

Peat has also served as a lifeline for the Hebrideans through the centuries. Peat cutting takes place in spring, usually the beginning of May, to maximise drying with the summer weather ahead.

Once dried, the peat is gathered and taken home where it gives off a wonderful aroma when burned. Taking the peats home to build into a stack is almost a social occasion. Although the practice is dying out in favour of the more convenient coal fuel, you can still see and take part in peat cutting in the spring. In North Uist, the Countryside Ranger offers a peat cutting walk, where you are taken out to a peat bank and told stories about how the crofters gathered together to cut the peat, while also learning about the fascinating wildlife, flora and fauna that survives there.