MANY PEOPLE will have walked the Wallace Road from West Dron to Lochelbank Farm, and on the way will have admired the spectacular vista from Sir Walter Scott's View over the Tay up past Dundee to Monifieth. But there is a lot more to this part of the Ochils than the Wallace Road, and it is worth taking the time to look at this area in more depth. From West Dron there is a good track branching off the Wallace Road to the right through a five-bar metal gate. This track eventually divides and the left-hand track leads past ruins of a farm settlement and out into heather overlooking Pitkeathly Loch with the well-defined Castle Law Hill fort in the background.
Pitkeathly Loch and the surrounding area is both a Special Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and these designations give this special place Natura 2000 status. It is part of an ecological network of areas of European significance, where any development that might damage the integrity of the site is forbidden unless for reasons "of overriding public interest". Pitkeathly Mires owes its designation to the rare transition mires and quaking bogs that exist here due to an unusual hydrogeological regime and the largest areas of peat in the eastern Ochils, (1) and in turn provides the ideal habitat for the very rare and protected slender green feather moss. So what?, you may say - but look closer. Because of the wet ground conditions this area is home to a wide variety of beautiful plants and butterflies and provides year-round interest.
The year starts with the appearance of the delicate pale pink cuckoo flower which colonises the outer margins of the boggy areas. Look towards the wetter centre of the bog and you will see many specimens of the bog bean (menyanthes trifoliata), beautiful starbursts of pale pink petals with frothy tendrils and dark maroon stamens clustered atop five-inch stems which rival any hothouse orchid. This plant is used in the herbal world for treating rheumatism - the tincture, made from the leaves, tastes very bitter - and also interspersed through the mires are a myriad of magenta common orchids.
The mire area extends from the southern end of Pitkeathly Loch outwith the SSSI eastwards along the base of Hill Wood, and the insectivorous butterwort is found in these damp conditions, its fat leaves arranged in a rosette. Come June, buds of the bog asphodel (narthecium ossifragum) are pushing through the raised bogs, and in July and August the eastern edge of Hill Wood is carpeted with spires of bright yellow flowers. The Latin name ossifragum means bone-breaker, and cattle grazing pasture containing bog asphodel suffer from brittle bones due to low calcium levels in the plant.
The delicate deep-veined white-petalled flower of the grass of parnassus, with its bright green finger-like projections surrounding the creamy white waxy stamens, flowers between July and October and is truly stunning. These are just a few of the floral gems in this area that thrive in large numbers. There are also masses of tiny wild violas that attract the small pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly, marsh marigolds, the fragrant marsh mint and the devil's bit scabious which marsh fritillary butterflies enjoy. The velvet-like cushions of sphagnum moss are home to scores of tiny frogs in the spring, with the many varieties of mosses providing year-round interest.
There is still visible evidence of the turf fell dykes that lined old drove routes such as the Cadger's Road which leads from near Rossie Ochil past Cairn Geddes to join the Wallace Road. Because this area has not had too much disturbance, apart from the planting of Hill Wood, you are able to see the old rig and furrow cultivation patterns. The more regular rigs are those formed by horse and plough, while the irregular rig and furrow were formed by oxen pulling wooden ploughs.
For anyone interested in maps, the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh are well worth a visit and the map entitled "Plan of the Commonty of Forgandenny" (reference number RHP 59) gives fascinating detail of the past farming practice of shielings - and standing south-east from Pitkeathly Loch you can still identify from this map the areas that made up the Commonty, Tombuie, Tombreast, Fowl Hill etc. There is a wonderful peaceful atmosphere here, and this may be a reflection of the past way of life where summer grazing of sheep and cattle took place. No doubt the folk who used this area appreciated its botanical wealth and would have used many of the plants medicinally.
So tread carefully, look closely and enjoy, but do it soon, as this is one of the areas - the Lochelbank Wind Farm Proposal - under threat from the proliferation of wind-factory proposals throughout the Ochils.
(1) British Geological Survey Scotland Sheet 40 - Drift Edition (ref 4)
http://www.viewsofscotland.org/