A carpet of heather on the slopes.
6th August 2009
Heather provides cover and food for birds and small mammals, insects. It has been used for medicines, thatching, ropes, bedding, ale and for gathering honey. This is Calluna vulgaris, known as Ling. First recorded on the Islands in 1852. These lands on the islands were providers of peat; the ling is said to be native to the islands, remembering the origins of these islands there is no reason to doubt that. Heather derives from OE hadre Scot haedre, both pre 12th C words. The name of Ling stems from a 12th C Norse word Lyng, meaning light in weight, presumably because it was light to cut and carry, as opposed to cutting and carrying turf or even Peat. No connection with heath, stems from haeth OE from Germanic.
