I’m not great with Sat-Nav. On a recent trip to Irvine I had a difference of opinion with the technology and as a result missed my cut off. It was, however, a fortuitous mistake. Soon I found myself driving through Troon where I passed stunning roadside verges. My day to visit the Irvine to Girvan Nectar Network was clearly going to be a success.
I was en route to join Scottish Wildlife Trust’s enthusiastic and energetic Lynne Bates for a trip around some of their highly impressive Nectar Network sites. Lynne’s meadow knowledge, and botanical expertise, are a delight, and what followed was a perfect, glorious day in the sunshine.
Noisy gulls floated overhead, the flowers were blooming and the insects were out in force. A day of discovery (for me) unfolded as we flitted from site to site absorbing the remarkable progress that has been made.
We began our tour by heading for Irvine Beach Park where we encountered a dragon. Before you ask “Just how long was he out in the sun?”, I should qualify that statement. Irvine beach park boast a fine stone dragon installation, and down the steep slopes beyond lie two different meadows adjacent to each other.
Lynne explained that, although side by side, these meadows are quite different. “We established the dragon meadow in October 2020.” she explained, “We scarified a patch of land to create a meadow and sowed it with Scotia Seeds’ ‘Get Nectar-rich Quick mix’ as well as a generous helping of yellow rattle. The meadow showed reasonably well in 2021 and when we cut it at the end of the season we vowed to use the green hay to create another meadow.
“This was to be located immediately beside the original meadow. So just across the vehicle tracks you can see an area that is quite different because we ploughed this additional half-hectare to continue our nectar corridor. From a compare and contrast angle it was good to use a different technique and different seed mix. The new area (which is closest to the dragon) was sown with the green hay as an experiment and the other half had our ‘Nectar Network mix’ sown.
“You can see they look quite different. Yellow and white dominate in the original 2021 meadow, whereas the new meadow has more red clover, self-heal and even viper’s bugloss and as a result is full of blushing pinks and purples”
A quick scoot along the track took us towards the popular boating pond that sits at the town end of the park. Here you find a meadow that has caught the eye of many a photographer. Whilst we enjoyed the pollinator display that was going on all around us you could hear the approval and appreciation of several passers by. “Beautiful to look at”, “so colourful” and “a wonderful resource for bees, hoverflies and butterflies” were just some of the comments overheard.
How could we follow this floral feast? Well, the simple answer is quite easily. A short trip took us on to Irvine’s Lawthorn and Sourlie meadows. The first thing the visitor would notice if comparing these meadows to those at the beach park is the amount of grass in the mix. Scotia Seeds’ Mavisbank Meadow mix has been used here and this gives what many of us would recognise as a traditional meadow mix, rather than something that is a bit more pictorial.
At Sourlie the site, which was previously dogged by boggy patches, was ploughed and directly sown in October 2021 and this is its first summer. It is quite something to behold, and again pollinators were clearly attracted in good numbers. The plan is for a cut and lift exercise at the end of the season and the arisings will simply be taken to a quiet corner of what is a sizable site.
That makes good environmental sense, as Lynne was keen to point out. “We didn’t want to take things off site as our aim is to be as sustainable as possible. And it makes sense in another regard too as the council don’t have their own composting facilities. This year we may use the arisings as green hay.
“The first thing residents and visitors will notice is that Lawthorn and Sourlie are quite different from the Irvine Beach meadows. A more traditional meadow mix has been used, it has a high percentage of grasses with more perennial flowers so is not as showy. Yet look closely and you will see yarrow, yellow-rattle, self-heal, buttercup, a little bit of ox-eye daisy plus the basal leaves of knapweed amongst the grasses. The beach park meadow is more pictorial, no grasses were sown in that. We wanted a high visual impact on that site and went with a mix that was just purely flower seeds. Although having said that we know the grasses will come gradually and naturally, but there is yellow rattle in there to help control things and that meadow is much more colourful having a range of annuals such as cornflower, poppies, corn marigold as well as the perennials like viper’s bugloss, yarrow and carrot.
And so on to Little Acorns Forest school site in the grounds of what was once Scotland’s Agricultural College facility. Here a conundrum faces the team behind the Irvine to Girvan network. A new meadow has proved more than a little popular with red clover … it has run riot. A purple haze greets the visitor, great for bumble bees but perhaps not the mixed meadow that was anticipated. As Lynne summarised “It will be interesting to see how it develops. The thing with meadows is you have no guarantee of what you will get year to year really, you can’t do much about it until it arrives. It is exciting, and the anticipation and guessing about what will thrive is part of the joy. But we might need to intervene here to get floral diversity we had last year.”
Our floral tour had yet more delights to savour on South Ayrshire Council roadside verges at Barassie. These are certainly eye-catching. A detailed, yet subtle, sign lets residents know what is happening. Meadows on a day like this look fantastic, but less so before and after they flower. Explaining the journey, and the environmental benefits, is a vital part of getting public acceptance and support.
As Lynne was keen to point out the councils in this area are great partners in the quest to create meadows and increase nectar provision. “The councils here are great to work with,” Lynne noted. “It works really well that they want to be able to manage these greenspaces much more sustainably, and that we want to provide a nectar network. They can show that making meadows will save money, cut carbon emissions, deliver significant biodiversity benefits, and add community value through much more aesthetically pleasing spaces for locals. I’ve heard nothing but praise for these approaches.”
We brought the curtain down on a series of excellent stops by calling in at Dundonald Links golf course. With preparations for the Scottish Ladies Championship underway things were surprisingly quiet – but my what a site. A new accommodation village is awash with pollinator planting, with each lodge separated from its neighbours by hummocks that give privacy and a wonderful swathe of nectar rich flowers. Bees and butterflies were plentiful. Add to the scene a flower-rich driveway and the amazing green roof that tops the club house and you have a wonderful site for insects. Views over the water to Arran come as standard.
Perhaps it’s just as well I couldn’t programme ‘nectar network’ into my sat nav – I don’t think technology could cope with the sheer volume in this neck of the woods.
Scottish pollinators 