The Flow Country - conservation issues

Authors Avatar
The Flow Country

Location

North east Scotland, in the counties of Caithness and Sutherland. Approx 400,000 hectares

Environment

* It is a wild, bare landscape with many lakes and bogs. Blanket peat bogs to depths of about 10 metres are found in areas of high rainfall or on land, which has become waterlogged. Water in peatbogs is acidic. These areas become covered with plants and mosses - especially sphagnum moss. When they die the acidic water stops them from rotting down. New plants grow on remains of old ones. Over the years plant remains build up into layers - peat. Blanket, peat bog - complete covering of the landscape, not just in hollows. 'Flow Country' is one of the oldest habitats in Britain.
Join now!


* Internationally important as a wetland wildlife sanctuary. Feeding grounds to birds such as greenshanks, dunlin and golden plover. For some of rarer species such as greenshank it represents a unique refuge for a high proportion of their British population. Red deer graze in the area.

The Threat

* Peatbogs are being dug up in other parts of Britain for use in gardening and horticulture; also drained for agriculture. Threat to the 'Flow Country' is from aforestation.

* Fountain Forestry planted 25,000 ha. of coniferous trees, primarily monoculture of sirka, spruce and lodgepole pine. Able ...

This is a preview of the whole essay