With 134 miles of paths through drifts of wildflowers abuzz with bees and butterflies, the John Muir Pollinator Way is both a beautiful walking route and a way to help revive Britain’s insect population, reports Sheila Sim
It’s a warm summer day and I’ve stopped to eat my lunch on the Union Canal towpath near Falkirk. A bough of dog rose is nodding above my head and I’m surrounded by a cloud of cow parsley and violet-blue cranesbill, with speedwell and buttercups at my feet. Small moths flit through the grasses, the air is thrumming with the sound of bees, and a thrush is providing musical entertainment.
Yet I’m in an urban setting: 70% of Scotland’s population lives within 30 miles of where I’m sitting. Not 100 yards in front of me, invisible beyond the tall hedgerow on the opposite side of the canal, is a new-build housing estate, and lying a mile or so behind my back is the smoking, sprawling industrial site of Grangemouth Refinery.
My journey started on a damp morning in June, when I set out from Helensburgh to walk the John Muir Way. Inaugurated in 2014, this long-distance walking and cycling route stretches 134 miles across Scotland’s central belt. Running from Helensburgh in the west through to Dunbar on the east coast, it’s named in honour of the pioneer conservationist who was born in Dunbar in 1838 but emigrated to North America as a boy.
volunteers at Balloch Country Park take pride in their meadows 
wildflowers line the path into the Kilpatrick Hills 
The world’s first rotating boat lift 
the lesser butterfly-orchid prefers acidic damp grassland
From 2015, thanks to the charity Buglife, the John Muir Way has also been Scotland’s first ‘B-Line’: a pathway for insects. Since the 1930s, we have lost 97% of our flower-rich meadows and hundreds of our pollinator species are in trouble: seven bumblebee species have declined by more than 50% in the last 25 years, and two-thirds of our moths and 71% of our butterflies are in long-term decline . Pollinators find themselves in isolated oases, hemmed in by agricultural land, roads and urban landscapes – epitomised by my picnic spot on the Union Canal. Buglife came up with an imaginative and beautiful solution: using computer modelling, they devised a network of insect pathways along which wildflower-rich habitats can be restored and created. These ‘insect super-highways’ now extend across the whole of the UK, allowing wildlife to move freely through the countryside and towns.
BUZZING FROM COAST TO COAST
Buglife works with councils, community groups and other stakeholders to agree a local B-Lines network. In the case of the John Muir Way, more than 50 ‘hotspots’ have been created, linking up a coast-to-coast corridor for pollinating insects. The trail has become a leading example of how to create B-Lines through urban areas.
“It’s mmoving to see such beauty in a former colliery, where once was smoke and dirt”
Given that Muir is known as the ‘father of national parks’, it’s fitting that the initial section of the John Muir Way passes through Scotland’s own first national park, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs. Here, at Balloch Country Park, I met Gillian Neil of West Dunbartonshire Council, who introduced me to some of the volunteers who help to keep the park beautiful. With the help of Buglife, they have created a stunning wildflower meadow overlooking Loch Lomond. I spotted one of the volunteers sweeping a large net through the grasses; he showed me a grass rivulet moth, whose larvae feed on the seeds of yellow-rattle.
From the hilly Highland landscape at the start of the route, the terrain changes to a flatter grade as the way enters Strathblane.
After a stretch along the Strathkelvin Railway Path, the route follows the Forth and Clyde Canal, which in turn follows the line of the Antonine Wall, the 39-mile turf barrier built by the Romans nearly 2,000 years ago. Diversions from the towpath allow the route to take in various Roman hill forts. On one of these ancient sites, I spotted the lesser butterflyorchid, beloved by the elephant hawk-moth.
The route passes through some of Scotland’s industrial heritage. The Kinneil Local Nature Reserve, a former colliery on the coast west of Edinburgh, is home to several Buglife meadows. They are stunning at this time of year, thriving with insect life, and it’s moving to see such beauty where once was smoke and dirt. Later I will see the site of the old brickwork kilns at Prestongrange reclaimed by wildflowers.
All the way along the route, I’m occasionally stopped dead in my tracks by a strong perfume. Sometimes the source is immediately obvious – honeysuckle or rose, for example – and just like a bee, I can’t resist poking my nose right inside a flower. Sometimes the source of the scent eludes me.
What’s most striking is the sheer variety and profusion of wildflowers along the route: meadowsweet, buttercups, valerian, vetch, cranesbill, clover, speedwell, umbellifers of all sorts and orchids in their hundreds. Much of this already grew here, but Buglife projects have helped join it all up. “We always use locally sourced seed,” explains Natalie Stevenson of Buglife Scotland, “as it’s best for our native pollinators.”
A POLLINATORS’ PARADISE
With the famous road and rail bridges behind me, I enter Edinburgh city centre. The route takes me through The Meadows, where Neil Roger of local group, Friends of the Meadows, shows me their Buglife wildflower project. Neil notes they have had to string a rope around their meadow to prevent over-zealous mowing by park staff; mowing technique is vital for the wildflowers. “Proper management is key to success,” says Natalie. “It’s crucial that meadows are mown at the right time, and cuttings removed afterwards to reduce nitrogen.”
SEVEN BRILLIANT BUGS
1 MARMALADE HOVERFLY Episyrphus balteatus Britain’s most common and widespread hoverfly is an effective pollinator of fruit and vegetable crops.
2 COMMON CARDER BEE Bombus pascuorum Fluffy and ginger, this bee feeds on flowers in various habitats from April to November.
3 WASP BEETLE Clytus arietis These longhorn beetles are excellent pollinators and enjoy flowers in hedgerows and woodland edges.
4 WHITE-TAILED BUMBLEBEE Bombus lucorum This widespread species loves all flowers and is found in a wide range of habitats.
5 COMMON BLUE BUTTERFLY Polyommatus icarus Found in a variety of habitats. Its caterpillars feed on clover, restharrow and bird’s-foot trefoil.
6 COMMON RED SOLDIER BEETLE Rhagonycha fulva These pollinators favour plants with open flowers, such as hogweed and cow parsley.
7 SIX-SPOT BURNET MOTH Zygaena filipendulae Flying with a slow, fluttering pattern, this distinctive day-flying moth loves knapweed and thistles.
WILDFLOWER WONDERS
8 VIPER’S BUGLOSS Echium vulgare Producing copious nectar, these flowers are highly attractive to bees and butterflies, such as the painted lady and skipper.
9 STINGING NETTLES Urtica dioica Nettles support the larvae of many insects, including small tortoiseshell and peacock butterflies.
10 HOGWEED Heracleum sphondylium Each flowerhead has a dome of little florets so nectar can be easily accessed by bees and bugs.
11 RAGWORT Senecio jacobaea Despite its poisonous reputation, ragwort is one of the most important plants for pollinating insects.
12 HONEYSUCKLE Lonicera periclymenum Tubular flowers rich in sweet-scented nectar are visited by long-tongued bumblebees in the daytime and by moths at night.
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Leaving Edinburgh behind, I start the final section of the way along the East Lothian coastline, heading towards my home town, Dunbar. If the John Muir Pollinator Way is an insect super-highway, then I’m now passing some of its major service stations: expanses of dune grassland densely carpeted with nectarrich flowers, including viper’s bugloss, clover, thyme and tormentil. John Muir, a passionate botanist, was referring to Florida when he described “a sea of golden and purple bloom so deep and dense that in walking through it you would press more than a hundred flowers at every step” – but he could have been writing about this magical Scottish grassland, not far from the place where he was born.
I’ve been walking the route in stages over a few weeks, observing almost an entire season unfold in front of me. When I started out, hawthorn and lady’s-smock were still in bloom; now at the end of the route I’m seeing later summer flowers, such as harebell and yarrow, and the wheatfields are already turning from green to gold. Day-flying moths were the prevalent pollinators when I started the walk, but the increasing warmth of the summer sun has brought out the butterflies. Bees have been everywhere along the route. It’s been a joy.
Buglife continues to develop its network of B-Lines across the UK. “The John Muir Way has been so successful that many other parts of the country are developing their own projects,” says Natalie. “It’s a really exciting time for us – and for pollinators!”
Sheila Sim is a writer and photographer, and also a keen walker. Inspired by the John Muir Way, she is creating a wildflower garden at her home in Dunbar, Scotland.
FIVE GREAT UK BUG WALKS
1. MACHAIR IN THE OUTER HEBRIDES Almost anywhere on the west coast of the Uists you can enjoy the stunning floral display produced by calciumrich shell sand. Machair supports rare species, such as the belted beauty moth (inset above).
2. HEYSHAM NATURE RESERVE, LANCASHIRE Close to bustling Heysham Docks, several good footpaths take you through this three-hectare grassland and wetland haven for butterflies and dragonflies. Look for common blue and small copper butterflies, six-spot burnet moths and emperor dragonflies (right) among the wildflowers.
3. WETLANDS OF COATHAM MARSH,TEESSIDE A beautiful oasis among the industrial heritage that made Teesside. Its reedbeds are a good place to see common blue and large red damselflies, and there are hectares of wildflower meadows to explore.
4. PENTWYN FARM, MONMOUTHSHIRE Explore the waymarked trail around this large area of flower-rich grassland, notable for its orchids – including green-winged and greater butterfly – that provide endless nectar for moths and butterflies.
5. CHALK GRASSLAND IN SOUTH DOWNS NATIONAL PARK The circular walk around Coombe Cross goes through streams, forest and pastural land. On this walk you can spot a variety of rare wildflowers, such as roundheaded rampion, and butterflies including the chalkhill blue.