This last weekend the Bog Squad was helping to restore peatland habitat at Lockshaw Moss SSSI in west Fife. Last year on a visit to Lockshaw the Bog Squad discovered that the moss is home to a colony of the Large Heath butterfly. So whilst we were doing our work we kept our eyes peeled for this elusive creature.....
We started off our day by pulling out some pine and birch seedlings that were growing on the moss. These seedlings have the potential to become much larger trees that in time will suck water out of the bog leaving it drier and even more prone to invasion by birch. This drying of the bog threatens the specialised plant flora that is so well adapted to living in the boggy conditions.
We started off our day by pulling out some pine and birch seedlings that were growing on the moss. These seedlings have the potential to become much larger trees that in time will suck water out of the bog leaving it drier and even more prone to invasion by birch. This drying of the bog threatens the specialised plant flora that is so well adapted to living in the boggy conditions.
One sharp eyed volunteer did manage to spot a large heath butterfly who was flying quickly despite the dull weather. In fact so quickly I couldn't manage to get a photograph! A few other interesting creatures turned up during the day including a couple of large emperor moth caterpillars and a beautiful common blue butterfly.
In the afternoon as a break from the tree seedling pulling we started a peat depth survey of the bog. We tested eight different points and discovered that the peat is almost six metres deep in places which represents about 6000 years of peat formation!
Next time the Bog Squad will be at Kingshill bog near Shotts in North Lanarkshire. Maybe see some of you there...........
Next time the Bog Squad will be at Kingshill bog near Shotts in North Lanarkshire. Maybe see some of you there...........