Put your hand up if you love being on the bog the PEAT bog, obviously

They’re vital for our climate yet still being drained So here’s a bit about why nature-watching on bogs is fun, what makes them great for wildlife & why we really *really* need them

(1/10)

(2/10) I’ve always had a soft spot for bogs. Some of my best nature-watching experiences have come from days spent on mires, mosses & other peatlands. Discovering bog orchids and making friends with this keeled skimmer dragonfly were two of my favourite encounters

(3/10) The smell of a peat bog is unmistakeable: rich, earthy & damp. Bending down you see raft spiders, bright yellow bog asphodel, glistening sundews, four-spotted chaser dragonflies & soggy, squishy cushions of one of the world’s greatest wonders: Sphagnum moss

(4/10) Sphagnum mosses form wobbly rafts of auburn, lime & russet that bubble & gurgle. Putting your hands in is a delightful experience These plants rely on rain for nutrients & act as sponges to retain water. In doing so they create the conditions required to form peat

(5/10) Waterlogged ground is low in oxygen. Organisms that break down dead plants require plenty of oxygen to do so, so when plants die in a waterlogged bog they don’t fully decay. Instead they layer up, one dead Sphagnum after another, which very very slowly forms peat

(6/10) Now, because the plants can’t decay, all the carbon they removed from the atmosphere during their lives is trapped in the peat. The UK’s peat-forming bogs store way more carbon than our forests do (though they’re slower to capture it from the atmosphere)

(7/10) On top of that, Sphagnum soaks up many times its own dry weight in water (very useful for preventing flooding) and these mosses actually clean that water by removing nutrients. A lot of our drinking water in the UK is initially captured and cleaned by Sphagnum in peat bogs

(8/10) But to perform these functions, peat *must* be wet. When land is drained, peat dries out & starts emitting stored carbon. Burning moorland to create habitat for grouse also releases carbon trapped in peat These practices are categorically terrible for our environment

(9/10) Another problem is peat harvesting for use in compost. If you love gardening you can make a difference by buying peat-free compost, making your own compost or only buying plants that haven’t grown in peat. I don’t have any compost photos so here are some ponies by a bog

(10/10) So bogs are amazing places that we need to protect: for nature, for their ecosystem services & for the environment. So get yourself on the bog (be careful though, they’re delicate places & you never know how deep they are) and get your hands in some squishy Sphagnums!