MMyy RRaaiisseedd BBoogg CCoonntteennttss How Raised Bogs Grow 3 Raised Bogs are wetlands made of peat, plants and water Walking on Water 4 combined together. They occur in the midland counties and in the Bann River valley of Ireland. Peat Sphagnum Moss 5 is the result of the accumulation of partially decayed plants over What Lives in a Bog? 6 thousands of years. The dead plants don’t rot because they My Raised Bog - How many grow in waterlogged conditions Plants do you know? 8 where there is little oxygen. Bog Pool Dipping 10 Bog Archive 11 Why are Raised Bogs Important? 12 Action You Can Take for Bogs 14 What Raised Bogs Can I Visit? 15 My Raised Bog Challenges 16 l l e n n o C Prepared by: Dr Catherine O’Connell ’ O Cover images: Girley Bog, Co. Meath . © C. O’Connell C © 2019 © Irish Peatland h Conservation t a Council, Bog of Allen e Nature Centre, m t Lullymore, Rathangan, s Co. Kildare R51 V293. e W Tel: 045 860133, . Email: [email protected], o C www.ipcc.ie , My Raised Bog is g o an education B programme of the IPCC, w o supported by the r c Peatlands Community Engagement Scheme n o ! 2019 and funded by the Department of l Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht C HHooww RRaaiisseedd BBooggss GGrrooww , e l t s a l l Raised C e Bogs s n s n a o p C ’ s l l O e . r C r y T © h & t AMAZING a g F e A o CTS B A rai m s ed bog t g s w rows by e o 1m r m each c W year n . o l o C C Raised bogs formed in lakes left bog remains wet, that carbon is behind after the Ice Age 10,000 not released to the atmosphere years ago in the Irish midlands. as greenhouse gas. Bacteria and fungi - the agents of decay were prevented from Lake working in the waterlogged conditions found in such lakes. The lakes slowly filled with un-decomposed plant material which thickened into peat to fill Peat is forming in a lake basin the lake basin. Sedges invade the surface peat to form a fen. Fen Groundwater feeds the plants in the fen and a rich alkaline wetland habitat develops. Eventually the plants lose contact with the groundwater and Lake basin filled with fen peat rainwater becomes the main water source which means the Raised Bog peatland becomes acidic pH 4. In the mineral poor wetland Sphagnum mosses establish and grow rapidly laying down peat each year until it thickens to 10m depth or more. All of this peat is ! stored carbon and as long as the Raised bog with 10m of peat WWaallkkiinngg oonn WWaatteerr l l e n n o C ’ O AM . AZING C FACTS © It takes 3 years s for g a footprint to o disap b pear fro m s a Sphagnum d l i moss cushion u b s s o m m u n g a h p S Walking on a raised bog is the closest you might ever get to being able to walk on water. This is because a raised bog is 90% water and only 10% solid earth. The ground is so soft that it takes three years for your foot print to disappear from the moss cushions. If you jump up and Squeezing the water out of down on the bog you can feel and Sphagnum moss © C. O’Connell even see it move, proof that it is really wet. can hold up to 20 times its own weight in water. When Sphagnum All of this water is stored in a mosses die their remains do not very powerful bog moss known as decay but collect as peat or turf. ! Sphagnum. It grows quickly and SSpphhaaggnnuumm MMoossss Without Sphagnum mosses there mosses grow tightly packed would be no raised bogs in together to form hummocks or Ireland. Bogs have a living cushions. These can be up to 1m surface which is made of a thin high on the bog and can be carpet of Sphagnum mosses. This chocolate brown or orange in is floating on a thick layer of colour. Scientists have counted partly rotted plant material or 50,000 Sphagnum plants in a peat that is soaking wet. This is hummock measuring one square why when you walk across the metre. Other Sphagna form loose surface of a bog it feels bouncy. mats in colours of pink, red, copper and yellow. Still others The carpet of Sphagnum mosses grow as single plants surrounded is not flat. Some Sphagnum by water in bog pools. These ones are bright green. Head (Capitulum) - the growing Structure of a point of bog Sphagnum Moss Plant moss A single Sphagnum plant is very small but has an interesting structure. The Hanging head or capitulum is the Branches pressed to the growing point of the moss. stem create a Attached to the stem are wick to help two types of branches - the draw water around moss spreading branches stick out plants to interlock with other plants. The hanging branches are Stem pressed to the stem and help to draw up water. Water is trapped between plants in a hummock, but it is also stored inside the plant itself Spreading Branches - in special containers called interlock cells. with other moss plants A peat core from a raised bog showing the living Sphagnum layer above the m c peat layer. 1 © C. O’Connell A leaf of a Sphagnum magnified to show the water storing cells and the green ! food-making cells inside. Structure of a Sphagnum Moss Plant © S. Anderson WWhhaatt lliivveess iinn aa BBoogg?? C. O’C © on g n o e l r l F © oth C. M O r ’C o o r n e n p e m l l © D. C E w am le l r i l e u r e C n n o C ’ O . C © terfly ut © h © y B C ot C. l h . M O a t O r ’C f a o f o e ’ r C n O e H o n p . n e e o n m l g l C e E r , l a l g L o B a r a l C ! Painted Lady Red Grouse © F. Doyle © J. FitzGerald Hare © D. MacPherson The endangered Large Heath Butterfly depends on raised bog plants such as cross-leaved heath and bog cotton for its food. The Emperor Moth flies in daylight and could be mistaken for a butterfly. You may find the caterpillars (called hairy mollies) of Merlin © F. Doyle the Fox moth or Oak Eggar Moth or a pure silk Emperor moth cocoon on the bog. Frogs hunt on the bog surface but breed in bog pools laying clumps of frog spawn in spring. The Viviparous Lizard may be seen sunning itself on hummocks on warm days. Fox Moth Caterpillar © C. O’Connell Snipe, curlew, skylark and meadow pipit breed on bogs. With no trees these birds nest on the ground in hummocks. Some feed on insects while others probe the peat for food with their long beaks. Even birds of prey such as kestrel, buzzard or merlin will patrol the bog looking for small birds, freshly Skylark © F. Doyle hatched chicks or other animals. Red grouse feed on Ling Heather. They have a distinct “go back, go back” sounding call. Look for clumps of their sausage like droppings on the bog. You are most likely to see the Irish Hare running away from you on the bog. Its droppings are straw coloured oval balls. Hare’s feed on Fox © É. de Buitléar bog cotton. Foxes, Badgers and Shrews make foraging journeys to the bog but they don’t live there. Some plants go to extremes to live in bogs. Sundews are carnivorous and they trap insects in sticky fluid found at the tips of tentacles on their tiny leaves. The tentacles move to enclose the insect on the ! Viviparous Lizard © P. Foss leaf surface so that it can be eaten. MMyy RRaaiisseedd BBoogg -- HHooww MMaannyy PPllaannttss DDoo YYoouu KKnnooww?? © ll © ll © © ll © l © ll © l C ne C e C ll C ne C el C e C el . O’Con . O’ Conn . O’Conne . O’ Con . O’Conn . O’ Conn . O’ Conn Ling Heather Crossed Leaved Heath Bog Rosemary Cranberry Long Leaved Sundew Round Leaved Sundew Bog Asphodel Calluna vulgaris Erica tetralix Andromeda polifolia Vaccinium oxycoccus Drosera anglica Drosera rotundifolia Narthecium ossifragum Fraoch Coiteann Fraoch Naoscaí Andraiméid Mónóg Drúchtín Móna Drúchtín Móna Sciollam na Móna © l © ll © ll © l © l © © ll C el e C ne C el C el C. e . O’ Conn C. O’ Conn . O’ Con . O’ Conn . O’ Conn P. Farrell O’ Conn Bog Bean Many-flowered Bog Cotton Single-flowered Bog Cotton White Beak Sedge Deer Sedge Matchstick Lichen Pixie Cup Lichen Menyanthes trifoliata Eriophorum angustifolium Eriophorum vaginatum Rhynchospora alba Trichophorum cespitosum Cladonia floerkeana Cladonia pyxidata Báchrán Ceannbhán Ceannbhán Gaelach Gobsheisc Cíb Cheanngheal Caipín Dearg Cupán Móna © l © l © l © l © l © l C. el © ll C el ne C el C el C. ll O’ Conn P. Farre . O’ Conn C. O’ Con . O’ Conn . O’ Conn O’ Conne Antler-Horn Lichen Bearded Lichen Austin’s Bog Moss Red Bog Moss Feathery Bog Moss Rusty Bog Moss Soft Bog Moss Cladonia uncialis Cladonia portentosa Sphagnum austinii Sphagnum capillifolium Sphagnum cuspidatum Sphagnum fuscum Sphagnum tenellum Léicean Léicean Sfagnam Sfagnam Sfagnam Sfagnam Sfagnam © © ll l © ll © l © ll © l © ll C.