The Wildlife Map of the Hebrides

25. East Coast of Harris

Parts of this are known as 'the Bays' and the rock-strewn landscape is almost bare of soil in many places so that most people describe this scenery as a 'moonscape'. Whalebacks (ice moulded rocks said to resemble whales backs) and perched erratic blocks of rocks dumped by melting glaciers) are frequently seen. The human struggle with this inhospitable terrain is shown by the 'Feannagan' or the 'lazy beds', where the soil was drained in thickness by digging out drains, piling the spoil on adjacent ground and applying manure in the form of seaweed and old thatch.