Pioneers

 In February 2019, the Big New Road (BNR) opened.  The official name for it is the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR).  That hardly rolls off the tongue, so it’s mostly referred to as ‘the big new road’.  Around 13 million cubic metres of earth was shifted, 75 new bridges were built, two of them wildlife corridors and 1.4 million shrubs and trees were planted over 15 hectares.  

The first few years, the verges, which are manmade hillsides, were sparse soil and rubble, some rough grass, the sapling trees hidden by their deer-defence tubes.  Even then, the pioneer plants started colonising.  The grasses and marguerite daisies came first of all, reminding me of Sweden. The following year, the maiden trees peeped up.  Now, gorse and broom have settled in, side by side, as they do, making a magic carpet of blazing yellow slo-mo explosions, hip-hip-hooraying all along the verges.  The trees are tall and leaf-full.  On a clear road, you have time to identify some, pine, rowan, hawthorn, silver birch.  Some of the trees have sailed in on the sea breezes of their own accord.  Pirate pioneers, bringing treasure of variety.  X marks the spot.  How do they know?  The intelligence of plants never ceases to amaze me. 

This year, pops of fuschia pink in Mexican waves of red campions join the fiesta.  The wildlife must be teeming as we humans speed by.  You can hear the birds over the hum of engines, and notice the occasional butterfly.  It’s a wonderful thing, win-win-win for humans, for wildlife and for plants.  It also takes an hour off journey times south to Edinburgh and Glasgow. 

It's a pleasure to drive, intensifying the freedom of a road trip, the panorama of this wide-open road. Gloriously full of Spring blaze, like a daytime firework display. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-46543944

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_species