THE Devon Way between Tillicoultry and Dollar is awash with a wonderful variety of wildflowers at the moment; a cornucopia of vibrant colour that on my most recent visit had me continually stopping in my tracks.

On many parts of the verges, dog violets prospered, forming drifts of purple splendour, and greater stitchwort was also common, such delicate white flowers held aloft on fragile stems.

By damp trackside margins, the wonderful chestnut-hued heads of water avens nodded in the wind, as did the glorious purple spikes of bugle.

Cuckooflower is one of my favourites with its delicate mauve petals.

The colour of the flowers can vary from almost white to deep purple, and according to John Gerard, the 16th century herbalist, the plant is so-named because it blooms "for the most part in April and May, when the cuckoo begins to sing her pleasant note without stammering".

Drifts of limey-yellow crosswort also abounded by the track edges – such subtle flowers, which when seen up close, have an under-stated beauty.

Dandelions, too, are abundant at the moment, their intricately frilled flower-heads little orbs of joyous sunshine.

It is baffling how dandelions are regarded as weeds, despite their colour being as vibrant as any garden flower.

The following week, my daily walk took me to Dollar Glen, where I was mesmerised by a shimmering sea of bluebells The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins eloquently described the wonders of a woodland floor carpeted by bluebells as having a "blue-buzzed haze" and "wafts of intoxicant perfume".

And, as I sat in among this blaze of blue beauty by the edge of the glen, my spirits soared in wonder at the captivating wildness around me.