Visit Blawhorn Moss

Introduction A bog for all seasons Welcome to Blawhorn Moss National Nature The mood and colours of the bog change with the Reserve, managed by Scottish Natural Heritage. seasons. In spring nesting birds call to each other and the first dragonflies flit over the bog pools. Blawhorn Moss is a secret place. Hidden among Summer brings the haunting call of the curlew and windswept moors, this wilderness is a rare survivor a sea of bog cotton waving in the wind. Water- of the raised and blanket peat bogs which once loving plants thrive including the carnivorous covered much of Central Scotland. Here there is sundew which traps and digests unwary insects. space to breathe and escape the city. Take time to Heathers add purple to the carpet of reds, oranges absorb the wide vistas, listen to the squelches and and vivid greens as autumn approaches. On a plops of a living bog and appreciate the changing winter’s day a short-eared owl scans the silent bog moods of a timeless land of water. as it hunts for small prey and at dusk a hen harrier flies over looking for a place to roost.

Hen harrier on the hunt Enjoying a Blawhorn walkabout Sphagnum moss

Time capsule Blawhorn Moss has changed little over the last 8000 years. Thick, black peat slowly formed from the squashed remains of dead plants, especially sphagnum mosses which retain rainwater like a sponge. In places the peat is now deep enough to bury two double decker buses. As dead plants sink and new shoots grow, the peat is still growing, though only at the rate of a millimetre a year.

Getting there Blawhorn Moss By car. From Junction 4 on the M8, take the A801 and then the A89 to Blackridge. Look for the first minor road on National Nature Reserve the right 750 metres west of the village. It is signposted to the car park, 500 metres from the main road (A89). From Airdrie head east on the A89 towards Blackridge for 5.6 miles, turning left at the last minor road before the village.

By public transport. A footpath network connects Blackridge with the Reserve, a mile to the north. There are local bus services at Blackridge and a railway station on the North Clyde Line from Helensburgh to Edinburgh via Glasgow, Airdrie and Bathgate. The Reserve entrance connects with thePitloc Nationalhry Cycle Network Route 75 (Glasgow-Edinburgh) via the Blawhorn link road. 4 A9

For further informationA please contact: 8 923 4 26 A Scottish Natural Heritage, Strathallan House, A984 A9 TyndrumCastle Business Park, Stirling FK9 4TZ. DUNDEE Tel: 01786 450362. www.nnr-scotland.org.uk A923Dunde A822 A93 PERTH A94 i A9 Pert 1 Crianlarich 4 9 1 9 A82 A VISIT 19 2 M90 13 1 2 AuchtermucA9Nehtywburgh A8 CuparA9 Callander 8 Auchterarder A92 Inveraray A Falkland AnstrutherCrail Pittenweem A91 Leven M9

77 0 Lochgilphead Stirling A9 A92 M9 Dunfermline North Helensburgh A985 Berwick Dumbarton Falkirk M80 Dunbar Dunoon Greeno Blawhorn EDINBURGH Collintraive Cumbernauld Moss M9 Tranent East Linton Tarbert NNR Bathgate Haddington M8 A89 Rothesay J4 Livingston Eyemouth Kennacraig Johnstone Airdrie Blackridge Largs M8 1 GLASGOW A7 Penicuik Claonaig Beith A703 Duns Kilbirnie 7 Motherwell 02 Lochranza Dalry M7 East Stewarton Kilbride A7 Kilwinning Lauder Greenlaw ArdrossanKilmarnock A721 Peebles A7 M7 Lanark Galashiels Coldstream Snipe having a rest 1 Biggar Brodick 4 Melrose Irvin Galston 0 10 mls Kelso Lamlash Troon 0 10 20 kms Prestwick ISBN 987-1-85397-804-3 © Scottish Natural Heritage 2015. Photographs: Lorne Gill/SNH, Laurie Campbell, David Pickett. Illustration: Blackridge Primary School P7 pupils. Main map by Fitzpatrick Woolmer. Selkirk Ay Cumnock Hawick New Sanquhar Maybole Cumnock Moffat Girvan Thornhill CarsphairMoniaivn e

Ballantrae Barrhill Lochmaben Langholm New Lockerbie Galloway CrocketforDumfrd i Cairnryan Gretna Longtown Annan Haltwhistle Walkway

Need to know 700 metre long track with a gentle to moderate slope from car park to Reserve entrance. All ability path and boardwalk to view the bog. Round trip from car park is about two kilometres. Bogs are wet, dangerous places with soft ground, deep pools and ditches. Please keep to the boardwalk and paths and look after children. Keep dogs on a short lead or under close control. Take home litter including dog dirt.

For further information please contact: Blawhorn Moss Scottish Natural Heritage, National Nature Reserve Strathallan House, Castle Business Park, Eastcraigs Hill Stirling FK9 4TZ. Tel: 01786 450362. www.nnr-scotland.org.uk

Westrigg

Bedlormie House Craig Inn TO ARMADALE 9 A8

A89 Blackridge

TO AIRDRIE Entryfoot

Blaw the horn It is said that Blawhorn was a lookout point for the Glasgow-Edinburgh coaches on the road below. The watcher blew a horn to alert the Craig Inn – the local coaching inn – to prepare for thirsty travellers and a change of horses. Nowadays the stable block of the inn houses Blackridge Community Museum, open during library times, which tells the village’s history.

Mosaic of cotton grass and bog asphodel

Round-leaved sundew An inspirational place Restoring the bog Bog art Blawhorn Moss is the largest and least disturbed area of active, raised bog in the Lothians. For Working with Reserve staff, local people have centuries people drained bogs like Blawhorn for helped to make Blawhorn Moss a special place. A farmland and cut peat for fuel. In recent years we network of footpaths links the Reserve with the have made over a thousand dams to restore the village. Pupils from Blackridge Primary School bog to its natural state by raising water levels. produced drawings for this leaflet and have made Thanks to careful management by the farmer, an animated film Bog Bugz and the Moss Monsterz. grazing sheep help keep the bog clear of shrubs. The amazing story of the tiny hair moss inspired Jim Whitson, the ‘Blazing Blacksmith’, to create art works on the boardwalk.