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Bowmore is the principal village of the Isle of Islay, set on the eastern shore of Loch Indaal at the centre of the island. The distinctive round church at the top of the main street and the Bowmore Distillery at its foot are Islay landmarks. The island's interior carries some of Scotland's most extensive blanket bog and peat moor, supporting vast stands of heather — both ling and cross-leaved heath — that represent one of the most intact heather ecosystems in the UK. White clover and bird's-foot trefoil grow on the improved coastal grassland; sea thrift, thyme and sea campion on the rocky headlands around the Rhinns.

Heather is the defining flow of Argyll — Calluna vulgaris covers the hills, glens and island moors from late July into September, offering one of the longest heather seasons in Scotland. Gorse and broom flower in two flushes — April and again in late summer — on every rocky coastal headland and glen-side. Sycamore is the principal woodland forage tree, prolific in the sheltered sea-loch valleys and estate policies from late April. Bramble is abundant on the lower ground and forest clearings from July. White clover grows on the improved coastal grassland of the Kintyre plain, the Isle of Bute and the Oban hinterland. Cross-leaved heath in the wetter blanket bogs supplements the main heather flow on the islands.