Yesterday I did, what I do most weekends .... go for a little hike.
Sometimes I might go somewhere specific. Therefor I would use the car, drive to an parking area a few miles away and go up the mountains, around a Lake ( Lough Easkey or Lough Talt ) or even better I might hop on the bike, hide it somewhere in the bushes and go from there. But the very best of all options is just getting my booties on, a rain-jacket and the high viz bib and start walking. Lucy the spaniel-collie Mix would just run ahead and off we go. Poor Murphy, the 15/16 year old sheepdog only goes now for as far as a 2 - 3 miles stroll, as he is getting rather slow and Arthritis seems to be a problem too.
Just about 1 km down the road, there is a large bog-area, which has fascinated me since our arrival 27 years ago. We don't have a lot of boggy areas left in Germany and it would be a strictly protected area, as flora and fauna within Bogs are rare and unique. But Clooneen Bog has more to offer. The roads and little tracks are well maintained and I often stroll into a grassy lane, just to find out, that it’s a dead end. Many people in the area have their turf cutting rights since decades and maybe longer. In summer time it is a busy enough place. Turf cutting machines bring up the soggy wet peat and leave long lines of moist, dark brown turf on the top ground. After a few days drying, the top part develops a hard skin and now it is ready to be turned. If the weather is really content and even sunny you leave it just another while and foot it straight away. We have done this for many years with our old neighbour Pat Smith, who surely also had a traditional turf spade and was able to demonstrate it to us and to many of our visitors. It is not all idyllic, as people are anxious to get their turf saved and weather plays a big part in this. If it rains heavy straight after cutting, the lines of peat just get washed back into the ground. Well and then there are the midges … tiny little biting insects, which appears on a calm day, when rain is lingering about. As you might imagine, the weather in the North-West of Ireland is just ideal for it.
But for me it is a heaven of unique plants and mosses, which only grow in such an specific environment. There are the different types of orchids, carnivores plants, rushes and other types of ‘grasses’ (cotton-grass is a very obvious one), mosses and lichens, ferns, heather, pond-weeds, bilberry, gorse, foxglove, primroses … to name just a few. Also some of the willows, ash, alder and birch developed smaller types, which can grow very well on even acid soil.
If you are lucky you might encounter a bit of wildlife, like fasans, wild ducks and other birds, otters, foxes, hares, Insects and spiders, frogs and newts ….
It is also an important fact, that intact blanket bogs are a huge benefit when it comes to climate change and issues about reaching international goals to combat climate change.
If you are interested in more information about the pure magic of common peatland, check up this:http://www.ipcc.ie/a-to-z-peatlands/blanket-bogs/, one of many educational web-pages about our bogs.
From that webpage a few facts about this exciting habitat, which is a blanket bog:
* Only a small amount of blanket bog exists in the world. Ireland possesses 8% of the world’s blanket bog and is the most important country in Europe for this type of habitat.
* Blanket bog landscapes provide a refuge for a rich biodiversity of species including several rare plants, birds and invertebrate species.
* Blanket bogs are commonly used as rough grazing land for sheep and cattle, grouse shooting, deer stalking and fishing.
* Blanket bogs preserve prehistoric farming landscapes beneath the peat as well as a diverse range of artefacts within the peat mass.* The patterns of pools on the flatter areas of blanket bog is of particular conservation significance. * * The pools support a specialized range of mosses (especially species of Sphagnum) and plants and they provide essential feeding habitats for wetland birds.
* Within their peat layers, blanket bogs preserve a record of their own growth and development and on a larger scale, they provide insights into regional vegetation change, climate change, atmospheric pollution and act as chronometers for other events such as volcanic eruptions.
* Blanket bogs accumulate and store millions of tonnes of carbon and have a vital function in controlling the green house gases that cause climate change.
* Blanket bogs contain in excess of 90% water and act as vast water reservoirs. They have a vital role to play in the management of water within river catchments.
* Blanket bogs and their utilization for recreation can have positive benefits on the health of people.
Back to my long, inspiring and beautiful walk and to some very disappointing and disturbing scenes. There are some people out there, who see this sensitive habitat as a waste-land, a patch of useless ground, a real dumping place. Especially after the Christmas 'clear-out' the amount of rubbish is just appalling. Would love to hear about your opinion about this issue and maybe ideas, how to combat this major problem.
Disturbing scenes ... the pictures speak for themselves....
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