"Machair" is a Gaelic word that describes a low-lying fertile plain and often refers to the coastal grassland formed when calcareous sand is blown inland from beaches and dunes by prevailing winds. The machair in the Outer Hebrides contains a high percentage of eroded shells (80-90%) and provides a rare habitat for a wide variety of grasses, flowering plants and many species of bird, including the rare corn crake (Crex crex). Although the bird's scientific name is thought to have resulted from its association with a popular breakfast cereal, it is apparently an onomatopoeic representation of the sound that would be heard if two notched sticks were rubbed together.

The unique surroundings of the Hebridean machair may thus be easily recreated in any city office environment by carving indentations into two pencils and sliding one pencil over the other.