The Rocks Remain –
But Rarely Unmoved
Climate Change Is Nothing New
Emerging from the last Ice Age some 10,000 years ago were the mountains, glens and straths which have been providing both shelter and challenge to local people since the first migrants arrived in the wake of that receding ice.
While the Ice Age held sway Mackay Country was home to polar bears, reindeer and lynx. As the ice receded and the climate warmed, birch scrub began to colonise the newly exposed slopes. The ice had scraped away not only the soils, but even more dramatically, the rolling hills and valleys. Although ice may look like a solid it is really a fluid so glaciers flow downstream eroding as they go. Some mountain peaks may remain above the ice. Where this happens the peaks are sharp and jagged - weathered and shattered by frost and ice. The Ice Age lasted for some 2.4 million years and during that time ice cover came and went periodically. Climate change is not a new thing though the reasons for modern climate change are different.
Ice gathered in north facing indents in the hills and created the classic corries to be seen today in the mountains of Mackay Country like Ben Loyal. The slow flowing glaciers gathered rocks and debris on their descent which helped to scour slopes and gouged out u-shaped valleys like Strath Halladale, Strathnaver, Strath More and Strath Dionard. On the coast the legacy of the glaciers can also be seen in the sea lochs like Erriboll, Inchard, Glen Coul and Glendubh. In Norway these would be called fjords while Loch Laxford would be referred to as a fjard. On reaching the sea the glaciers started to float a little so the fjords or sea lochs are deep, but often deeper close to the head of the loch and shallower beyond the coast.
When the glaciers began to melt they released huge amounts of meltwater. These rapid, fast flowing, debris-full burns and rivers were short lived but they made their mark. The deep gorge through which the Armadale Burn now flows was cut by glacial melt water. Many hundreds of tons of outwash gravels and sands were washed down the straths. Some went out to sea and the remainder can be seen as a series of terraces by which it is possible to trace past courses of the rivers.
Asher or Oldshoremore – Land of the Morrisons
Machair, raised beaches and dune system where over 200 flowers species bloom each summer.
On the shoreline are more terraces and raised beaches about twelve metres above current sea level. Once the weight of the ice was lifted from the land as it melted, the land itself rose up creating raised beaches.
These flat, fertile places have always been crucial to crofting agriculture for crops and grazing. On the machair at Oldshoremore, Oldshorebeag and Sheigra over two hundred species of flowers bloom each year. The dune grassland at Strathy Bay is another place where a beautiful variety of flowers flourish. At Strathy and Faraid Head the rare Scottish primrose also grows each spring. Each summer on machair and inbye ground all across Mackay Country eyebright, vetches, yellow rattle, orchids, clovers and daisies cover the ground. Traditional crofting agriculture is important in keeping these species rich pastures intact.