Scotland's bogs reveal a secret paradise for birds and beetles

The restoration of the Flow Country peatlands has created a vital carbon sink and a thriving habitat for a range of speciesThe bog at Forsinard stretches to the horizon, a vast mosaic of greens and browns. The tallest plants here grow only ankle high, but even so, walking requires careful attention. Hummocks covered in heather (Calluna vulgaris) or cotton grass (Eriophorum spp.) offer lumpy but secure footing. Soggy patches of sphagnum moss are less predictable.These bogs, in northern Scotland's Flow Country, are deceptive in more ways than one. Beneath the moss and the heather and the sedge lies one of the planet's largest surviving expanses of peat - a nutrient-poor, carbon-dense mass of partly decayed organic matter. But here lies the peatland's hidden strength: a prodigious ability to lock away carbon, making it an important resource in the fight against climate change. Continue reading...