Walking The Line: Spring flowers along the Line

Delicate soft green needle clusters opening on larch

The 54 miles of the walkway provide a superb wild life corridor where vegetation is relatively free from management and grows largely undisturbed by agrichemicals. The plants provide food and shelter for a wide range of birds and small mammals. For those who walk sections of the Line frequently the changing vegetation marks the changing seasons and gives each stretch, from the barren windswept miles of the north to the tree lined stretch through the great estates of Aden and Pitfour in the 'Garden of Buchan' and the gentle rolling countryside of the Ebrie valley its own character.

Gorse along the Line, suddenly the bushes which have carried some sprigs of flowers all through this mild winter are covered in coconut scented flowers. Daisies thrive and have flowered all year round in the grass at the edge of the path, worn short by passing feet.

Coltsfoot with small hairy caterpillar.
The as yet leafless coltsfoot, is now in flower, the flowers are smaller and paler than the brash dandelions which have also flowered all through the winter. The leaves will appear once the flowers have faded.

Naturalised daffodils give splashes of colour, usually near road crossings and houses. An old friend of Grey Granite recalled that in the days of steam trains when trains were stationary at a certain point outside Strichen the firemen would occasionally get out of the cab to pick daffodils from the embankment.