Bog ugly, but totally magnificent: peatlands are finally getting the respect they deserve | Sophie Yeo

Scotland's Flow Country is the first peatland to become a world heritage site. It's time we cherished these biodiverse landscapes For centuries, peatlands have had a bad reputation. Possessing neither the majesty of the mountains nor the pastoral beauty of a meadow, they have been tarred as dangerous, ugly and useless. Travellers have long feared being swallowed into their murky depths: "If his foot slip ? it is possible he may never more be heard of," wrote the cleric William Gilpin in 1772, expressing a common sentiment at the time.But now the image of this ecosystem is finally on the mend. Unesco has inscribed the Flow Country as a world heritage site - the first peatland to make the list. From now on, this 190,000-hectare (470,000-acre) expanse of the Scottish Highlands will sit alongside the Great Barrier Reef and the primaeval forests of the Carpathians as a landscape of international significance. Continue reading...