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Irish Peatland
Conservation Council

Comhairle Chaomhnaithe
Phortaigh na hÉireann

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Birds

Animals

Fly Traps

Treasure

Flowers

Turf

Flying Dragons

Sphagnum Moss

Save the Bogs

Bogs in Danger

Bogs Bogs Bogs

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A wild bog is covered with a thin carpet of living Sphagnum moss, saturated with water and scattered with small pools. Get down close to the bog and a whole new world opens up. A tiny jungle thriving with interesting wildlife - sedges, mosses, lichens and heathers.

Look out for cranberry. The juicy fruits make cranberry sauce. Bog Rosemary and Cross Leaved Heath have pink flowers shaped like lanterns. Ling heather likes the dry parts of the bog and is probably the safest place to have a rest. Troops of yellow bog asphodel's gather around the edges of the pools. You'll find bog cotton with its fluffy white heads waving in the breeze on the bog surface and bog bean with its spongy roots snorkles in the bog pools.

Lichens form bright cushions on the bog and let us know the air is fresh and clean. On warm days the air smells minty from the heat on the leaves of bog myrtle. In the wet areas where there are plenty of insects the glistening sundews are busy trapping insects on their sticky leaves.



In the soggy, spongy parts of bogs you can find cross-leaved heath with its clusters of pink lantern-like flowers.





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