Last Sunday the Bog Squad was at Fannyside Muir again working alongside Buglife to help improve the fortunes of this degraded peatland. Despite the recent rains and flooded roads 15 hardy volunteers came out and were rewarded with some splendid December sunshine and free xmas trees!
Part of Fannyside Muir is covered in dense non-native Lodgepole pine scrub which has been regenerating from an earlier plantation. If left these wee trees will suck water out of the peat and intercept rainfall - all of which leads to a drier bog. The drier upper layer of peat then releases greater quantities of nutrients which helps the trees grow better and a vicious cycle has begun. |
To stop this continuing the Bog Squad set about cutting down the pines. By the end of the day and after some furious lopping and sawing around 3 hectares of pine had been lain to waste. The cut pine was used to fill in some of the ditches which should help slow the loss of water from the bog.
Some of the nicer looking pines were eagerly snapped up by the volunteers and are now enjoying a second lease of life as Christmas trees.
And that is it from the Bog Squad in 2015. Bring on the new year when we'll be back with more work parties................
As always a huge thank you to all the volunteers who have supported the Bog Squad this year. From everyone at Butterfly Conservation Scotland we wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you in 2016!!
As always a huge thank you to all the volunteers who have supported the Bog Squad this year. From everyone at Butterfly Conservation Scotland we wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you in 2016!!