ISLANDS

Uist

A chain of inhabited Hebridean islands in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, known for white-sand beaches, Gaelic culture, and machair grasslands.

Geography

The Uists comprise North Uist, Benbecula, and South Uist, linked by causeways and bridges across shallow tidal sounds. The western coast is a 100 km stretch of beach and dune-backed machair; the eastern coast is rocky and lochan-strewn.

Machair

Machair, a wildflower-rich coastal grassland on shell-sand soil, supports rare ground-nesting birds including the corn crake. The Uists hold roughly half of Scotland’s machair habitat.

Language

Scottish Gaelic remains the everyday language for roughly 60 percent of South Uist residents, one of the highest concentrations of Gaelic speakers in Scotland.

Find more islands by letter

Uist starts with U and ends with T. Browse other islands along the same letter.

Islands that contain a letter from "Uist":