Crofting

Across north and west Scotland (the crofting counties) agricultural production is much more limited by both climate and the type of land. Historically, the land was divided into small tenanted units, each with a house and the use of a common grazing. Traditionally, a typical croft included a small area of cultivated ground and supported a limited number of livestock, including both sheep and cattle. This subsistence form of farming has sustained crofting families for many generations.

Small areas of productive land, usually close to the house, were used for growing crops (small/black oat, rye or bere and potatoes). Each rotation included a period of fallow which was often used as winter grazing for cattle, particularly on machair. Whilst producing a rich pattern of colours and textures, arable cropping also provided food and habitats for many species particularly birds and bumblebees. Traditionally, cereal crops were cut and bound (using a binder) into sheaves, then left to dry in the field before being collected into a 'stook' or stack. The corn was then used to feed cattle which were often out wintered on fallow ground. These practices meant that there was always an abundance of spilt grain for seed eating birds like corn bunting and twite.

The mosaic of crop and grassland within the crofting township provides a range of habitats for wildlife. Removal of stock in spring from the more fertile ground to common grazings allows hay to be grown for winter feed which in turn provides tall vegetation as cover, allows flowering plants to set seed and limits disturbance to ground nesting birds such as corncrake. Summer grazing on common ground (areas of moorland, peatland or hill ground) allows the creation of a more complex sward structure due to the different feeding behaviours of sheep and cattle. Traditional crofting practices have also helped to maintain the internationally renowned machair habitat, now mainly conserved on the Uists. The practice of out wintering cattle on the fallow ground helped maintain species rich swards providing pollen and nectar for insects like great yellow bumblebee and suitable breeding sites for waders.

Although modernised, this extensive land-use has persisted in its traditional form in some areas, in particular on the Western Isles. Nonetheless, in most of the crofting areas, practices have evolved towards larger structures, increased use of silage to the detriment of hay making and cropping and larger stock number along with decline on other units. Crofting is confronted with other challenges such as abandonment and neglect of the land, decrofting, a decreasing population (especially in Caithness and Sutherland and the Outer Hebrides), and the loss of traditional know-how. These trends have detrimental impacts on the fauna and flora, in particular on birds associated with arable land and rare plants such as the eyebrights or the Irish ladies' tresses, which populations are in decline in crofting areas. The typical crofting landscape is also changing as dwellings are progressively disconnected from land management.