The Hebrides (overture) retains this position to the present day. Mendelssohn's first visit to England in 1829 resulted from invitations by Sir George Smart and the Philharmonic Society. Following his tour of England, Mendelssohn proceeded to Scotland, where he began work on his Symphony No. 3, "Scottish". He was engaged on a tour of Scotland with his travelling companion Karl Klingemann when he sent a postcard to his family with the opening phrase of the overture written on it. In a note to his sister Fanny, he said: "In order to make you understand how extraordinarily the Hebrides affected me, I send you
Hebrides where he set his best known poem, ', about the devastating effect of the Highland Clearances. , raised on South Uist and described by MacLean as "one of the few really significant living poets in Scotland, writing in any language" (West Highland Free Press, October 1992) wrote the Scottish Gaelic-language novel "" which was voted in the Top Ten of the 100 Best-Ever Books from Scotland. In some respects the Hebrides lack biodiversity in comparison to mainland Britain; for example, there are only half as many mammalian species. However, these islands provide breeding grounds for many important seabird species including