Na h-Eileanan Siar covers the Outer Hebrides chain off Scotland’s west coast, including Lewis and Harris, North and South Uist, Benbecula and Barra. The council area is administered from Stornoway on Lewis. Landscapes range from peat bogs and freshwater lochs to coastal machair — a shell-sand grassland that supports ground-nesting waders and traditional crofting. Gaelic remains in everyday use across communities and appears on many signs and broadcasts. Regular ferry routes and regional air services link the islands with each other and the mainland.
The area holds a long human history visible in sites such as the Callanish standing stones on Lewis and the place where the Lewis Chessmen were found at Uig. Local industry includes fishing, shellfish farming and handwoven Harris tweed, which by law must be woven in the homes of the islands. Small details of island life continue to shape transport and tourism, from sheltered harbours to Barra Airport’s beach runway at Traigh Mhor, where scheduled flights operate directly onto sand.
