Wetlands
Scotland’s wetlands range from small damp hollows to large areas of extensive flood plains. The wetland that reside within Scotland include fens, swamps, reedbeds, flushes, springs and bogs. Wetlands receive water from the soil and rainfall, although they vary hugely in their wildlife depending on the type of wetland. Scotland’s wetlands provide a habitat for a wide range of birds, insects and plants. Wetland also provides important ecosystem services such as clean water, moderating floods, maintaining river flow during droughts, as well as adding another dimension to Scottish scenery. Wetlands can also store carbon which is important for mitigating climate change.
Fens are one of the main types of wetland which occurs across Scotland. These wetlands get water from ground water and precipitation. They are often very species rich and contain a wide range of sedges, rushes and other wetland plants. Some fens are small only covering a few meters and others stretch over many hundreds of miles.
Raised bogs are a wetland that gets all their water from precipitation. These bogs are created over 8,000 years in shallow depressions where vegetation is kept from rotting because of poor drainage; forming peat. The peat builds up in the depression creating a slight dome shaped bog, growing around 1mm a year. Peat is formed from mostly sphagnum mosses which can hold up to 20 times their weight in water, this helps to regulate water during floods and drought. In some bogs, peat can be around 11m deep meaning that a core sample can revel climate information from several thousands of years ago. The conditions on the bog encourage plants like cranberry and sundew to grow. Insects such as damselfly and dragonfly live in the shallow pools.
In the Forth
Flanders Moss is the biggest lowland raised bog in the UK and it feeds directly in to the River Forth. A host of specialist plants make their home on the bog. The extent of the bog can be viewed from the board walk or viewing tower from which you can see mosses creating carpets of red, orange and green. In August heather adds a purple to the mix of moss green, and in winter geese and swans reside on the bog. The bog is also a perfect habitat for insects, ground nesting birds, wading birds, reptiles and amphibians. Snakes and lizards can often be seen sunbathing on the boardwalks in the summer. Another large raised bog that resides in the Firth of Forth catchment is Blawhorn Moss which like Flanders has a board walk from which visitors can walk over the moss.Â
Threats to Habitat
Human activity has influenced most wetlands in Scotland. Many wetlands have been drained using drainage ditches for agricultural purposes. This changes the hydrology and lowers the water table making it possible for shrub and trees to invade which dry up the bog further turning it in to a habitat where the iconic specialist plant species and mosses won’t be able to inhabit. On peat bogs, peat exploitation is also a problem as people cut the peat out of the ground to fuel fires or to use as a nutrient rich soil. Peat takes thousands of years to develop and taking it from a bog destroys a fraction of the specialised habitat. In a regime of global warming, peat bogs could dry out and as a result smoulder and catch fire creating hazards for surrounding habitats as well as habitats on the bog itself.