The Flow Country is a vast area of blanket bog in the far north of mainland Scotland. The name, which has only been in common use since the 1980s, comes from the local term for the pattern of bogs and small lochs that stretch for many miles. The Flow Country, which is more than a million acres in size, is believed to be the largest expanse of blanket bog in western Europe.
The Flow Country is important from several perspectives. For
one thing, it is an area of wilderness that has been largely undisturbed for
more than 7,000 years and is therefore a “living fossil” of the landscape as it
was soon after the end of the last ice age. Since then, layers of peat have
steadily built up as vegetable material has slowly decomposed in wet, poorly
drained conditions, to a depth of up to five metres in places. The peat
preserves anything that is covered by it, so a section down through the peat
provides a wealth of information about what was growing and living here in past
ages.
As it is compressed vegetable matter, the peat acts as a
massive carbon “sink” that traps millions of tons of carbon that might
otherwise be contributing to climate change.
The Flow Country is particularly valuable for the wildlife
that it supports. The boggy ground has a highly specialised flora that includes
sundew, bog bean, cotton grass and other plants that depend on this
environment. Bird species found here include greenshank, hen harrier, merlin
and golden eagle. The value of the area as a wildlife haven is demonstrated by
the fact that 50% of the UK’s population of wood sandpipers live in the Flow
Country, as well as 37% of the country’s common scoters, 19% of dunlin and 16%
of black-throated divers.
However, from an economic point of view, this is 1500 square
miles of wasteland. Just about the only land use that is possible is forestry,
and that is where the problems started for the Flow Country.
Afforestation began in the 1960s and accelerated during the
late 1970s and early 1980s. Land was bought cheaply by forestry companies which
took advantage of generous government grants and tax breaks to drain the land
and plant vast numbers of non-native pine and spruce trees in dense arrays.
Over a five year period more than 60,000 hectares were planted, with
devastating consequences for the boglands and their wildlife as massive
trenches were dug into the peat to provide drainage and alien forests grew that
were almost devoid of other forms of life.
The campaign to save the Flow Country began in 1985 with
publicity-arousing events and representations to government that included pleas
to reverse previous policies regarding afforestation.
The RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) was
particularly active in the campaign, pressing for action to be taken under the
1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, which provided for the establishment of
protected Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). The first such sites in
the Flow Country were announced in 1987, as were protected areas under the
European Union’s Birds Directive. Another important move was a new requirement
for future forestry proposals to be subject to proper assessment in terms of
their environmental impact.
The most important move on the part of the RSPB was the
purchase in 1994 of land on the Forsinard estate that had not yet been
forested, thus guaranteeing that the bogland would be preserved. The initial
purchase was of 7,000 hectares, and this has since been extended to nearly
21,000 hectares. The reserve extends for 26 miles from east to west in the
eastern part of the Flow Country.
Work is being done, in co-operation with the Forestry
Commission and other agencies, on the removal of existing forests and the
damming up of drainage ditches. To date, nearly 2,000 hectares of forest have
been cleared and more than 20,000 dams built to raise the water table and
restore the bogs.
The hope is that these efforts to reverse the march of
afforestation and preserve the remaining blanket bog will lead to the Flow
Country being according the status of a World Heritage Site. This would be due
recognition of the importance of this area of true wilderness in much of which
the hand of man has been absent for thousands of years. With any luck, many
future generations of black-throated divers and greenshanks will be able to
live at peace in this otherwise inhospitable region.
© John Welford
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