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Hurlford is a village on the Irvine Water immediately east of Kilmarnock, where the river bends through a productive wooded valley before joining the larger Ayrshire plain. The Irvine Water corridor through Hurlford carries willow, alder, elder and hawthorn scrub that provides a sustained sequence of forage from March through to September — one of the more sheltered river-corridor bee habitats on the Kilmarnock fringe. The improved dairy fields above the valley carry white clover in June and July; the former mineral railway line and rough ground at the edge of the village has been colonised by bramble, rosebay willowherb and himalayan balsam, extending the late-summer flow through August and into September.

Hawthorn is the spring anchor across the Ayrshire lowlands, with hedgerows flowering from mid-May on the enclosed farmland around Kilmarnock, Stewarton and the valley towns. White clover dominates the mid-summer flow on the improved pastures from June through July, supplemented by sycamore and lime in the town parks and estate woodlands — most significantly at Kay Park in Kilmarnock and the Dumfries House policies near Cumnock. Himalayan balsam has colonised the Irvine, Nith and Lugar valley corridors, producing a strong late-summer flow from mid-July into September. Gorse and broom are prevalent on the rough ground above the enclosed farmland through the spring and early summer. Heather begins on the Fenwick Moor, Muirkirk and Cairntable uplands from mid-July, offering a productive moor crop for those who move colonies to the hill.