The Bog Squad's first work party of 2015 was held at Langlands Moss last Saturday.
On our previous visits here the volunteers have always been greeted with warm sun - unsurprisingly (considering its January!) this time turned out to be a somewhat chillier affair... The sun did shine on us for the most part though and with a fresh covering of snow on the ground the bog looked very tranquil.
Our task for the day was to install some more plastic dams in the old drainage ditches that crisscross the moss. The main ditch in the area that we were working had already been dammed many years previously with plywood and good levels of sphagnum mosses have built up since. However the plywood is getting rotten and looking in danger of failing so we decided to pop in some new sturdier dams to ensure the water flow in the ditch remains restricted.
On our previous visits here the volunteers have always been greeted with warm sun - unsurprisingly (considering its January!) this time turned out to be a somewhat chillier affair... The sun did shine on us for the most part though and with a fresh covering of snow on the ground the bog looked very tranquil.
Our task for the day was to install some more plastic dams in the old drainage ditches that crisscross the moss. The main ditch in the area that we were working had already been dammed many years previously with plywood and good levels of sphagnum mosses have built up since. However the plywood is getting rotten and looking in danger of failing so we decided to pop in some new sturdier dams to ensure the water flow in the ditch remains restricted.
Some smaller channels running off from the main ditch also needed blocked so we also focused our efforts there. With spirits high the volunteers set about the task in no time at all and within a short space of time (and some hard work!) a total of seven dams had been installed. We also managed to remove some scattered pines and spruce that were growing in the area and these were placed into the ditches to help block them up.
The value of our efforts could be seen immediately as pools of water quickly built up behind some of the dams. Many thanks to everyone who helped out on the day!
There's still plenty more to be done at Langlands Moss and the Bog Squad will be continuing with our damming efforts there on Sunday 22nd February - hope to see you there!
There's still plenty more to be done at Langlands Moss and the Bog Squad will be continuing with our damming efforts there on Sunday 22nd February - hope to see you there!