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Raised Bogs The conservation team building dams to maintain water levels at Carsegowan Moss. |
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Bogs are increasingly rare habitats within Britain. Seen as useless land they have been drained for conversion to farmland, planted with conifers or dug up and stripped bare to provide peat for gardeners. Fortunately today people have begun to recognise how important bogs are, both for the unique wildlife they contain and for the fact that they are effectively a history book waiting to be read! Bogs are waterlogged, usually acidic and anaerobic, meaning that below the surface there is very little oxygen. As a result once something is buried within a bog it does not decompose, but is preserved. This can include archaeological artefacts and even human bodies! For example 'Pete Bog' the Iron Age man sacrificed and buried in Lindow Moss, Cheshire. More importantly the peat can preserve pollen blown in from the surrounding countryside. By analysing this pollen record scientists can literally read the past history of the bog and its surroundings, changes in vegetation, the climate and local weather conditions. |
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Photo - D. Heward |
