Land and larder

It’s thanks to Scotland’s mixture of temperate environments experienced from the Highlands to the Lowlands that the land not only sustains wildlife but also provides a fruitful bounty of agricultural produce and opportunities for outdoor activities.

In the next instalment of our series, Iain Gray offers a guide to both the land and the rich range of foodstuffs it produces.

Scattered across the landscape in a patchwork quilt effect are the hills and mountains, valleys, peat and heather moorlands, bogs, freshwater and sea lochs, rivers, streams and sea cliffs – all contained within an area of 30,000 square miles (78,772 square kilometres).

Including moorland, more than 75% of the land is classed as agricultural and much of the produce is among the nation’s unique culinary delights.

Not as densely covered by forest as it was until at least 1,000 years ago, the land nevertheless still remains heavily wooded with deciduous and coniferous species of trees.

Birchwoods including the silver birch and the downy birch flourish particularly in the northeast and the Highlands, while the air is often subtly perfumed by the leaves of the aromatic variety ‘odorata.’

The largest of forest tract that once covered Scotland was the forbidding Caledonian Forest, parts of which survive to this day as the Caledonian pine forests.

Cone-bearing, they are to be found at Glenmore, near Aviemore, Rothiemurchus and Strathspey, while oakwoods grace the landscape of the west coast from Lochaber to Dumfries and Galloway – where a popular spot to see them in all their glory is the Wood of Cree, near Newton Stewart.

Other woodland reserves include Glen Moss, near Kilmacolm in North Ayrshire, the Clyde Valley Woodlands National Nature Reserve, Carron Glen near Denny, Stirlingshire, Ayr Gorge Woodlands near Mauchline, East Ayrshire and Pease Dean near Dunbar.

Among the blooming heather

From woodlands to moorland, it is here that blooms of heather flourish, while the boglands of the north and west contain the peatlands – for centuries and up until the present day a vital source of fuel for domestic use; located between Stirling and Aberfoyle, Flanders Moss is the biggest surviving ‘raised’ bog in the British Isles.

Particularly associated with the Outer Hebrides, for example Berneray in the Sound of Harris, the machairs are low-lying fertile areas of grass plain while, taking to the water, sea lochs found along the western seaboard include Loch Eriboll, in Sutherland, and West Loch Tarbet in Argyll.

Rivers and the small streams known as burns flow through the landscape, with the River Tay the longest river, the mighty Clyde the river that flows from its source in the Lowther Hills in the Southern Uplands to the Firth of Clyde, and the Water of Leith flowing through Edinburgh to the port of Leith.

Noted for posterity in the famous Robert Burns’ love poem Sweet Afton, the Afton Water flows gently in East Ayrshire.

While the rivers and streams offer abundant opportunities for fishing and other pursuits, dry land also has no shortage of attractions for serious trekkers, casual ramblers and wildlife enthusiasts.

Pleasantly free of traffic, there are a number of walks and nature trails that criss-cross the land.

One of the most popular is the West Highland Way, pictured above, stretching 96 miles (154 km) from Milngavie, in East Dunbartonshire, all the way to Fort William in Inverness-shire, and blessed with attractions that include Mugdock Country Park, Loch Lomond, Buachaille Etive Mòr, Glencoe, Loch Leven and Glen Nevis.

A coast-to-coast route and recognised as one of Scotland’s Great Trails, the John Muir Trail, opened in 2014 and named after the pioneering Scots-born environmentalist and conservationist John Muir, founder of America’s National Parks, runs just over 133 miles ((215km) from his birthplace in Dunbar on the east coast to the west coast resort of Helensburgh.

In addition to views of Loch Lomond, it has other attractions that include the Campsies and the Strathkelvin Railway Path.

Further north, the Great Glen Way is the 72.7 mile (117km) walking route between Fort William and Inverness that passes Loch Lochy and the Caledonian Canal.

Named after the cattle thieves known as ‘caterans’, the Cateran Trail is a 64 mile (103km) route between the glens of Perthshire and Angus that takes in moors, forests and farmland.

With a rich and colourfully diverse range of attractions that include St Andrews, the home of golf, to quaint fishing villages, beaches and wildlife reserves, the 117 mile-long (188.2km) Fife Coastal Path runs from the Firth of Tay in the north to the Firth of Forth in the south.

Running for 96 miles (154km), the Southern Upland Way is the coast-to-coast route from Cockburnspath in the east to Portpatrick in the west.

With its surrounding landscape steeped in history –  in common with all the other walks and trails Scotland has to offer –  it takes in sections of the once forbidding Hadrian’s Wall, the defensive fortification built by the Romans in the second century AD.

Larder of delights

Providing mouth-watering culinary experiences, the cornucopia of delights that is Scotland’s larder of produce from the land, rivers and seas is justly world-renowned.

Beef, lamb, mutton, bacon, cereal crops, seafood and shellfish and confectionery all contribute towards a unique Caledonian cuisine, while the food and drink industries account for 27% of the nation’s manufacturing exports.

The biggest agricultural sector is the beef industry, with high quality Scotch beef in great demand both at home and abroad and the cattle raised mainly in the north and east – but there are also the Highland cattle, known in the Scots vernacular as ‘Hielan’ coos’, distinguished by their long, wavy coats coloured from red to yellow to silver, and white, black and brindle.

Organised into the ‘tiers’ of upland and lowland, hill and prime lamb, sheep farming is particularly intensive in the northeast and the Southern Uplands, providing fine lamb, mutton and wool, while dairy farming flourishes in the southwest in Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway.

This is an industry that not only supplies the everyday mainstay of milk, but also supports a burgeoning cheese and other dairy product industries – involving both small, independent producers and larger enterprises – while fruit and vegetables grow in rich and delectable profusion.

Loganberries, raspberries and strawberries are particularly identified with Angus and Tayside, while other fruits, vegetables and cereal crops such as barley, wheat, oats and potatoes are to be found in Ayrshire and the Clyde Valley.

Taking to the rivers and seas, Scotland is also renowned for shellfish such as crab and lobster and fish including salmon, cod, trout, herring and haddock – with smoked haddock famed as Arbroath Smokies.

Fraserburgh is the largest shellfish port in Europe and Peterhead the biggest white fish port.

For the sweet-toothed, a range of confectionery is on offer from shortbread, tablet and fudge to scones and biscuits – and definitely not for the determined weight watcher.

There is, of course, the haggis – famously described by Robert Burns as the ‘Great chieftain o the puddin’ (pudding) race’.

Not a creature of the Highland mountains as some mischievous Scots would have some gullible visitors believe, this national dish is served up with mashed tatties (potatoes) and mashed turnip (neeps) and washed down with a dram or two of whisky at Burns Suppers, traditionally held worldwide on January 25 to celebrate the bard’s birthday.

A savoury pudding, a traditional haggis is a weird and wonderful concoction of sheep’s heart, liver, lungs, stomach (or sausage casing), oatmeal, suet, onion and spices.

Also popular at any time of the year, the venerable haggis now even comes in equally tasty vegetarian varieties – one wonders what the bard would have thought of that …

Coming next in our series – from red squirrels and stags to grouse and golden eagles, we showcase Scotland’s majestic wildlife.