Good thought. I've taken the W Highland line and the Skye railway many times but never that one. And I could usse it as a very slow way of getting to the Orkney Isles. When is Scotrail's next 'anywhere for £20' offer coming up?
I never really thought about the beauty of a monocultural landscape, but I get the point. But I wonder how many species there are in a bog. Perhaps more than we think. I went to a talk about carnivorous bog plants recently.
In terms of biomass I'd guess a peatboh at maybe 95% Sphagnum moss. Which is as close to a monoculture as you'll get in a natural system. (Ling heather moor might run it close.) Sphagnum is pretty much pure cellulose so anything else growing will have an issue procuring minerals. Hence carnivorous plants. Also bog Myrtle and bog asphodel both have nitrogen fixing bacteria. I'd guess that midge larvae don't need any actual sustenance up until they hatch out and fly off to find that first satisfying blood meal.
Excellent post. Peatbogs deserve to be much better protected and much better thought of.
I'm currently trying to learn Scottish Gaelic and was amused by your phrase: "Gaelic is a vivid and evocative language – except sometimes when it gives up and doesn't bother."
My Gaelic is mostly limited to mountains - of which an awful lot have names like Meall Odhar (dun-coloured hump) and Beinn Ghlas (grey hill). There's a lochan (small loch) called Lochan Coire an Lochain (yes, the small loch of the corrie with the small loch in it). There's even a loch called Loch Loch up in Atholl.
fascinating, and having been in Shetland and, more recently, Ireland, the amount of peat still being cut to burn is still considerable if not surprising.
Burning peat for heat has much the same carbon effect as the same weight of coal – and yes, there are folk still doing that here in rural Scotland. But the main threat to peatbogs is being drained for tree-planting purposes: once dry, the peat returns its carbon to the atmosphere. Disappointingly, some peat is still being harvested for gardeners until 2030.
A worthwhile rail trip from Inverness with wick as terminus. Multiple unique landscapes to see by and be amazed by the flow.
Good thought. I've taken the W Highland line and the Skye railway many times but never that one. And I could usse it as a very slow way of getting to the Orkney Isles. When is Scotrail's next 'anywhere for £20' offer coming up?
Last time I did it it was great value/km!
I never really thought about the beauty of a monocultural landscape, but I get the point. But I wonder how many species there are in a bog. Perhaps more than we think. I went to a talk about carnivorous bog plants recently.
In terms of biomass I'd guess a peatboh at maybe 95% Sphagnum moss. Which is as close to a monoculture as you'll get in a natural system. (Ling heather moor might run it close.) Sphagnum is pretty much pure cellulose so anything else growing will have an issue procuring minerals. Hence carnivorous plants. Also bog Myrtle and bog asphodel both have nitrogen fixing bacteria. I'd guess that midge larvae don't need any actual sustenance up until they hatch out and fly off to find that first satisfying blood meal.
Excellent post. Peatbogs deserve to be much better protected and much better thought of.
I'm currently trying to learn Scottish Gaelic and was amused by your phrase: "Gaelic is a vivid and evocative language – except sometimes when it gives up and doesn't bother."
My Gaelic is mostly limited to mountains - of which an awful lot have names like Meall Odhar (dun-coloured hump) and Beinn Ghlas (grey hill). There's a lochan (small loch) called Lochan Coire an Lochain (yes, the small loch of the corrie with the small loch in it). There's even a loch called Loch Loch up in Atholl.
fascinating, and having been in Shetland and, more recently, Ireland, the amount of peat still being cut to burn is still considerable if not surprising.
Burning peat for heat has much the same carbon effect as the same weight of coal – and yes, there are folk still doing that here in rural Scotland. But the main threat to peatbogs is being drained for tree-planting purposes: once dry, the peat returns its carbon to the atmosphere. Disappointingly, some peat is still being harvested for gardeners until 2030.