Last weekend the Bog Squad emerged from a period of summer hibernation and got stuck into some birch clearance at Lenzie Moss. The lovely wee community bog sits on the edge of Lenzie with its boardwalk a popular attraction for local walkers and their pooches. Like many bogs and mosses in Scotland Lenzie Moss has seen its fair share of past disturbance with a large chunk of it having been used for peat extraction. Happily though the moss has been treated to much restoration work in the recent past with Peatland Action funded work giving the central moss a new lease of life. Here cottongrass and sphagnum mosses are flourishing again in the re-wetted bog.
The edges remain drier though and are vulnerable to invasive birch seedlings spreading in. If left these trees can begin to suck vital water resources away from the moss. This is where the Bog Squad comes in - by hand-pulling seedlings out we can keep the birch at bay and protect the moss and its vital peat carbon store from drying out. On the day the volunteers managed to clear around 1.5 hectares of seedlings from the moss, a superb effort!
The edges remain drier though and are vulnerable to invasive birch seedlings spreading in. If left these trees can begin to suck vital water resources away from the moss. This is where the Bog Squad comes in - by hand-pulling seedlings out we can keep the birch at bay and protect the moss and its vital peat carbon store from drying out. On the day the volunteers managed to clear around 1.5 hectares of seedlings from the moss, a superb effort!
As you can see above we had an excellent day of nature spotting too with plenty of caterpillars and even some beautiful flowering Bog Rosemary. There was also a slightly ghoulish discovery when a Fox moth caterpillar was found being predated upon by a Spiked Shieldbug - photo below. Many thanks to David Palmar www.photoscot.co.uk for the use of his excellent photos.
The Bog Squad's next outing will be at Sergeantlaw Moss near Paisley on Sunday 17th September. If you'd like to come along and join in please get in touch with David Hill at [email protected]
The Bog Squad's next outing will be at Sergeantlaw Moss near Paisley on Sunday 17th September. If you'd like to come along and join in please get in touch with David Hill at [email protected]