³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

Tha na prògraman seo mu dheidhinn dòigh beatha croitearan ann an ceàrnaidh de dh’Uibhist a’ Deas.

Air a chruthachadh à creag cho sean ris a’ Ghealaich, tha cumadh Uibhist an urra ris a’ gaoith, ris a’ mhuir agus ris na daoine a tha air a bhith ag obair air an fhearann fad coig mìle bliadhna. Tha na dòighean croitearachd dualchasach seo fàbharach do dh’eòin agus flùraichean sònraichte a tha tighinn beò ann, ach a tha air a dhol à bith ann an àiteachean eile air feadh Bhreatainn.

Bidh dùbhlainn ag èirigh bho na h-atharraichean san t-sìde agus cearcaill nadarra beatha agus bàis. Agus bho na sgaothan ghèadh.

Anns na 30 bliadhna mu dheireadh tha an àireamh ghèadh ghlasa a tha ann an Uibhist fad na bliadhna air èirigh bho nas lugha na 1000 gu barrachd air 9000. Le glè bheag a’ cur casg air briodachadh nan gèadh ghlasa tha iad a’ dèanamh milleadh mòr air arbhar Uibhist. ‘S ann le toinisg, spionnadh agus càirdeas ri chèile a tha na croitearan a’ dèiligeadh ris na dùbhlain sin agus duilgheadasan eile. Feumar an sìol a chur, agus feumar an t-arbhar a’ bhuain airson an crodh a’ bheathachadh. Agus feumar na caoraich a chìobaireachd.

A personal portrait of the crofting calendar on South Uist, past and present.

Made from rock as old as the moon, Uist has been shaped by winds, tides and the people who have continuously worked this landscape for 5,000 years. The traditional crofting methods enable rare species of birds and flowers to thrive that are extinct elsewhere in the British Isles. Conflicts arise from the dramatic weather system and the front-line cycles of life and death, and from the flocking geese.

Over the last 30 years, the resident population of Greylags has increased from less than 1,000 to over 9,000 birds. With little to check the breeding Greylag, the geese are destroying the cultivation of Uist corn.

How the crofters meet these and other challenges with wit, humour and determination is a core driver of the action. Always, there is the need to sow the seed and cultivate the corn to feed the cattle. And to shepherd the sheep on the hills.