Last Saturday the latest peatland to get a Bog Squad makeover was Wester Moss near Stirling. This lovely little bog is tucked away in woodland beside the village of Fallin. With a mixed bag of tasks to do the team rattled through them so fast we even had time at the end for a spot of rhoddy bashing!
After quickly clearing a few felled trees from the access track we set about installing three new dams. All the main drains on Wester Moss have previously been dammed up, but I stumbled (literally!) across a small un-dammed ditch this week in the centre of the moss. So a couple of small plastic dams were whacked in here to see if they can make the centre of the bog a bit boggier!
After a quick bite to eat we went off on a search for bog rosemary. This beautiful little plant flowers in late spring and only occurs on peatland sites. Despite its name it does not actually relate to the herb family, but is in fact a relative of heather and other heath plants. It is known to be found in places on Wester Moss, but up until now its full extent was unknown.
After a quick bite to eat we went off on a search for bog rosemary. This beautiful little plant flowers in late spring and only occurs on peatland sites. Despite its name it does not actually relate to the herb family, but is in fact a relative of heather and other heath plants. It is known to be found in places on Wester Moss, but up until now its full extent was unknown.
After finding around 15 sites on the moss for Bog Rosemary we just about had time to finish bashing the last remaining rhododendron bush at Wester Moss. I'll leave you with a picture of a spider we found hiding under some dead bark - I think it's the rather exotically named Walnut orb-weaver spider which according to the Natural History Museum is apparently one of the few British species that has been recorded as biting a human!