“Policies and farming practices have changed through the years and changes today focusing on creating wet grassland habitat on peat soils are encouraged to support biodiversity and climate mitigation plans.”
This is according to CEO of the Irish Peatland Conservation Council (IPCC), Nuala Madigan who said that boglands are very special for many reasons, including biodiversity.
“Boglands are very unlike any other natural habitat in Ireland; they are extremely wet – you are definitely wearing your wellies to the bog – and they are also acidic in nature,” Madigan told Agriland.
Ireland’s bogland biodiversity has adapted to these wet and acidic conditions as well as the very open landscape and the different seasons which affect the water table, she said.
In winter, the bog can freeze because of the freshwater, while in summer the bog can be dried out due to light intensity and increased evaporation, Madigan added.
Bogland flora and fauna
All bogland flora and fauna adapted to live in this habitat. “The least well known, which should be very well known, is the sundew – we have our own insect-eating plant in Ireland.
“It adapted to live on the bog – it hibernates in winter to protect when it gets to freezing conditions. It has got very small leaves to minimise water loss in the summer,” she explained.
Boglands, she said, are a very nutrient-poor environment because of the high water table and therefore the sundew traps and eats insects – “which I think is really cool”.
Other plants include the “iconic” bog cottons which, she said, is also called bog snorkeler. The plant lives by an internal air tube and a leaf system which allows it to root down up to 20cm below the surface.
The bog snorkeler is one of the deepest rooting plants on the bog, she added. Heathers, which traditionally was used to make heather brooms in Ireland, is also a common plant on the bog.
“Looking at the animals in boglands – the fauna – they are just amazing,” Madigan, who highlighted that Ireland’s only lizard, the viviparous lizard, lives on boglands.
Birds like the curlew with the snipe with their long straight beak adapted to probe into the wet bog pool to feed on the many dragonflies, damselflies and water beetles which are hidden below the water surface.
These flies and beetles, which are invertebrates, are foods for amphibians – frogs and newts – which can also be found on the bogs. There are also hares that don’t burrow, foxes and birds that prey in the sky, she said.
Irish Peatland Conservation Council
Boglands are made of water and dead plant material which has never decomposed or broken down. Thus, she said, peat soils are filled with carbon which, if they are in the right conditions such as being wet, they don’t release that carbon.
Instead, peat soils are sequestering carbon from the growing plants on its surface according to Madigan, who said that they are “really significant” habitats in terms of mitigating climate change, added.
“We know about 64% of Ireland’s soil organic carbon is found in our peatlands and again it has to be highlighted that 20% of Ireland is actually bogland habitat.
“Rewetting and restoring bogs where we can is a really good initiative to support climate change mitigation plans,” the CEO said.
Landowners and farmers have always adapted to new government policies through the years, she said, and as farming practices have changed as new techniques have been developed, understanding of the land increased.
Madigan added that “we now understand the importance of peat as a soil carbon and as a store of carbon”.
“I think this is just a new learning, a new understanding of how our Irish landscape can really support our biodiversity and [mitigate] our climate crisis,” she added.
On Lullymore West Nature Reserve, a cutaway regenerated as wet grassland for butterflies, including Ireland’s only legally protected insect species the Marsh Fritillary, the IPCC works with local landowners who allow their donkeys to graze on the reserve.
In 2021 the IPCC’s butterfly reserve was nominated as a regional and national finalist in the heritage category of the National Lottery Good Causes, she said. On average over 4,000 community clubs, projects and charity and voluntary organisations receive funding every year.
Over 150 events have been taking place across the country to bring communities together and celebrate National Biodiversity Week which will come to a close this weekend (Sunday, May 28).
Activities including nature and biodiversity walks, talks, and workshops for those looking to encounter the natural world up close are planned in towns and villages nationwide.