The Outer Hebrides: The Making of the Islands [Hardcover]

It is a technically-sound, up-to-date and well-referenced view of the physical nature of the Outer Hebrides. The writing is clear, helped along by anecdote and shows the sympathy for and empathy with the landscape that might be expected from a professional conservationist of local origin.

This is a natural history of the islands in the Outer Hebrides - Lewis, Harris, the Uists and Benbecula and Barra, with their outlying islets. This, the first of three volumes, gives an account of Hebridean geology, landforms and climate, followed by a resume of findings on glaciation in the region. The chapters on coastal development and erosion contain newly-researched material, and the volume concludes with a chapter on climate and soils.

This is a new natural history of the Outer Hebrides - Lewis, Harris, the Uists and Benbecula, and Barra, with their outliers. The series will consist of three self-contained volumes. The first of these, The Shaping of the Islands, deals with geology, landform and climate. A clear account of Hebridean geology is followed by a fascinating resume of up-to-date findings on glaciation in the region. The chapters on coastal development and erosion contain much new material drawn from the author's own research. The volume concludes with a chapter on climate and soils.

Later volumes will deal with terrestrial habitats and the marine environment. The series combines scientific breadth with precise local detail, making it equally useful in the field to serious students and casual observers. At the same time, this is a pleasurable armchair read, sprinkled with entertaining anecdotes. All three volumes will be profusely illustrated with maps, diagrams and photographs, many of them the author's own.

Stewart Angus, a native Lewisman, has spent eleven years as a professional environmentalist in the Outer Hebrides, including five years as Area Manager for Scottish Natural Heritage for the whole of the Western Isles. He is now specialist adviser on coastal ecology in SNH. He has a particular interest in machair, and his interest in the archaeological and cultural history of the islands enable him to place the natural history in its human context, in an area where people, the land, the sea and wildlife have always been closely inter-related.