The UK Machair Habitat Action Plan: Progress and problems

Summary Machair is a complex dune grassland habitat confined to Scotland and Ireland. With two-thirds of the world area of machair in Scotland, the UK has a special responsibility for this resource, and the UK Machair Habitat Action Plan identifies a range of realistic management targets and actions aimed at protecting and enhancing the habitat. Machair's conservation importance is substantially reliant on active, traditional management, but quantitative and location-based information on management is rarely available, and this will have an impact on any numerical targets in the Plan. Though progress has been made on many of the actions, further measurable progress will very much depend, not only on improvements in the information base, but also in the understanding of relationships between land use and biodiversity. Progress to date on actions and targets is evaluated, and problems are identified.