In this month’s blog, Susan says more about bog pine. 🪾

This was called several things in Gaelic, including ‘giuthas coinnle’ (candle pine) because it gave good light.

www.faclair.ac.uk/blog/378/gd

#Gaelic #pine #bogpine #peatland

From the 8.2 ka event to the Little Ice Age: Holocene cold periods and human impact recorded in alpine glaciofluvial peatlands (Silvretta Mountains, Switzerland) Abstract. High alpine peatlands are naturally impacted by extreme climatic conditions and heterogeneous topography. In the Alps, humans have been influencing their development for millennia, and accelerating climate change puts them under additional pressure. In the Swiss part of the Fimba Valley (or Val Fenga; > 2350 m a.s.l. (metres above sea level)), small-scale peatlands have been investigated to gain knowledge on climatic and anthropogenic impacts on alpine landscapes using quantitative and semi-quantitative geochemical parameters derived from inter-calibrated portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF) and XRF core scanning, sedimentology, and radiocarbon dating. The onset of peat formation, after the retreat of the Fimba Valley glacier, has been dated to a time window between 10 450 and 9000 cal BP at the lower (northern) end and to 6600 cal BP at the upper (southern) end of a 470 m long transect. Holocene cold episodes appear to have increased erosive glacial activity in the western side of the valley, resulting in high minerogenic sediment loads being deposited on the peatlands by a meltwater channel, interrupting peat accumulation repeatedly. In the early Holocene, distinct minerogenic layers suggest glacier growth and cold and potentially wet conditions around 9200, 8200, and 6300 cal BP. With the impact and extent of the 8.2 ka cold event still being under discussion for this region of the Alps, a coarse gravel layer is strong evidence for a marked glacial response in the Silvretta Mountains to a particularly cold and wet episode. Cooler climate conditions seem to have prevailed around 5400, 5000, 4500, and 3600 cal BP. Afterwards, the proportion of anthropogenic forcing in erosional processes and other disturbances increased. During and since the Middle Ages, soil or sediment erosion and decreasing peat accumulation were and have continued to be consequences of at least one of the following factors: deforestation; livestock grazing and traffic (trade, tourism); and, temporarily, the Little Ice Age. These impacts and their potential effects on carbon accumulation and flood risk mitigation in the valley should be considered in land management practice. Despite their strong minerotrophic character and a likely post-depositional release due to erosion and decomposition in recent layers, the peatlands have preserved clear signals of atmospheric lead (Pb) pollution: one correlated with the Roman period and another around 1450 cal BP. Rapidly changing sedimentation and hydrology in small mountain peatlands are a challenge for radiocarbon chronologies, high-resolution sampling, and the detection of atmospheric geochemical signals. Yet, our study demonstrates that dynamic glaciofluvial stream-bank mires are valuable for the reconstruction of the impact of climate and humans on alpine environments – from prehistory to the present.

❄️ From the 8.2 ka event to the Little Ice Age: Holocene cold periods and human impact recorded in alpine glaciofluvial peatlands (Silvretta Mountains, Switzerland)

von Scheffer, C., et al., 2025. E&G QSJ, 74, 263–279.

doi.org/10.5194/egqs...

#EGQSJ #peatland #holocene

I’m visiting the SLU Dept. of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment in Uppsala today and saw this on a bookshelf. The dept is home to our 2024 and 2025 #NobelPeatPrize laureates. #peatland

Looking for an entry-level job in #Peatland restoration? We might have just the post for you! #GreatNorthBog
careers.ywt.org.uk/job/e9ca6f88...

Trapping sediment and water on damaged #peatland has multiple benefits 👍

The slower movement of water creates shallow pools which benefit invertebrates and ground nesting birds 🌿🐦
Peaty sediment is deposited behind the bunds, preventing it from reaching water courses and reservoirs 😊

A bit of #peatland heritage reading to round off the weekend? Research from the Wetfutures project I worked on with Ben Jennings in 2020/21 has just been published in #Wetlands #openaccess
'Wetland heritage the balance...'
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

'The start of the healing process': the vital work to restore Britain's peatlands | Greenhouse gas emissions

'The start of the healing process': the vital work to restore Britain's peatlands | Greenhouse gas emissions
->The Guardian | More on "Peatland restoration reducing greenhouse emissions" at BigEarthData.ai | #GreenhouseGasEmission #Peatland #ClimateChange

Two Slave-maker Ants in the sun on a background of wood (from an old tree stump) and moss.

A Peacock butterfly basking on flattened long grass

Spring on the bog in Aberdeenshire - always great to see the Slave-maker Ants, which were very active in today's sun, around old stumps of trees removed as part of #peatland restoration. A few Peacocks on the wing too.

#peatland

Beyond the forests: peatlands as overlooked carbon stores in coastal British Columbia The Pacific Northwest of North America is known for its lush temperate rainforests, which contain about 3.58 Pg of carbon across coastal British Columbia (BC) and Alaska1. These carbon stocks are considerably higher than in other forests of North America2,3 and, in fact, among the highest for forests world wide4. Generally, peatlands are highly efficient carbon stores, containing 600 ± 100 Pg of carbon globally, which is about 30% of the global soil carbon stored on just 3% of the global land area, or twice the amount of carbon as found in the entirety of Earth’s tree biomass5. However, peatlands of western North America are known to be poorly mapped5. Peatland carbon stores for this region have not yet been reported beyond global model outputs, which have suggested up to 2.5 m of peat thickness in the peatlands studied here6. Other studies from Northern BC have found peatland depth ranging from 1 to 2 m, with up to 3–4 m in basin bogs7,8,9,10. Generally, improved estimates of the depth and extent of Canadian peatlands are urgently needed3. Using 195 of our own and 94 additional samples from the Peat Profile Database11, we set out to quantify peatland carbon stocks of...

Beyond the forests: peatlands as overlooked carbon stores in coastal British Columbia
->Nature | More on "Peatland carbon stores coastal BC" at BigEarthData.ai | #Coastal #Forest #Peatland #Ocean

Land Use Framework: Housing and energy expansion won’t risk food security, Government says - edie The UK Government has unveiled its long-awaited Land Use Framework, setting out how competing demands for land can be managed through to 2035 and beyond. It covers demands including housebuilding, ene...

"Government says 6% of England’s total land will need to undergo land-use change to benefit climate & nature. Activities classified this way include #peatland restoration & #woodland creation – which Defra emphasises are vital to farm resilience in any case." www.edie.net/land-use-fra...

Tropical peatland fires had been fading for over a thousand years, then the 20th century pushed them to levels not seen in two millennia Beneath the world's tropical wetlands lies a carbon archive built over thousands of years — peat deposits so vast they store more carbon than all the planet's

Tropical peatland fires had been fading for over a thousand years, then the 20th century pushed them to levels not seen in two millennia www.ecoportal.net/en/tropical-... #FossilFuels #ClimateCollapse #Peatland #Wildfires #Worldwide

Student at top of Forsinard tower looking out onto bog pools

Five students crouched around a quadrat on blanket bog in sunny conditions. Another similar group further away in background

Five students crouched around a quadrat in rough grassland.

Some vole droppings in a latrine among brown grass stems.

Cracking start to @srucnews.bsky.social Field Study Skills trip to Sutherland. Veg quadratting on blanket bog (and a quick run up the Forsinard tower) along with vole sign surveys at Melvich - with several excited finds of vole 💩💩.

#peatland
@theflowcountry.bsky.social

I love the sound of skylarks on #peatland 😍

Just a gentle reminder: we keep finding popped #Balloons on many of our site visits. Along with adding to plastic pollution, they can also pose a risk to wildlife. We know balloons are fun for celebrations, but please be mindful of where they end up. 🎈💚 #Peatland #GreatNorthBog #Pollution

The #PeatColours project continues to grow. We now have a new site in the Netherlands (Fochteloërveen) and will soon have a site in the southern hemisphere (Chile)

The interactive map has had a make over to include #peatland type and you can see the photos here

peatcolours.github.io/tracking.html

We’ve started surveying #Fylingdales Moor to plan restoration after last year’s #Wildfire. It’s a desolate landscape. On the upside, areas with higher plant diversity and more Sphagnum moss seem less affected by the #Fire. I wonder why? 🤔💧 #GreatNorthBog #Water #Peatland @northyorkmoors.org.uk

#peatland blog 😊

Peatland restoration RSPB restores lost ‘peatland paradise’ for threatened wildlife.

RSPB restores lost ‘peatland paradise’ for threatened wildlife #Fens #Peatland #Birds #Habitat #Restoration #Conservation #GreenSpace #Biodiversity #Nature #UKWildlife #RSPB

www.mygreenpod.com/articles/pea...

It's been great to see peat dams and composite dams in action in the Cairngorms 😊

Both types of dam help to raise the water table in areas that have previously been drained 💦

Thanks to Megan and Daisy for taking time to discuss all things #peatland restoration 🙏

Line Rochefort, Canada | The Convention on Wetlands Biography At 16, Dr Rochefort wanted to be a biologist. But it was 1977 – the natural sciences camps were boys-only. That did not stop her. She took the plant identification guide that one camper gave...

Celebrating Line Rochefort, named to the 2026 Women Changemakers in the World of Wetlands

At 16, she taught herself botany after being excluded from science camps for boys only. Today, she’s a global pioneer in #peatland #restoration and continues to champion women in science.

shorturl.at/n67Nb

#InternationalWomensDay #IWD2026
Women in leadership inspire!
Mannon Lewis leads nature boosting and carbon capturing projects @naturambyth.bsky.social & @peatlandcymru.bsky.social. She also brings her insight as a farmer to the delivery of these nature-based solutions.
#Nature #Peatland

Spring is an exciting time on the hills, as we get to see how the vegetation is responding to our work 😀

Last year's beige spikes of bog asphodel will soon be replaced by vibrant yellow flowers 🌸🌿 and cottongrass flowers were spotted on Beinn-y-Phott yesterday 😍 #peatland

LTE Site of the Week: Whim Bog, Scotland. An aerial photo showing the peatbog and wooden pathways breaking up the landscape. Running since 2002. Netty van Dijk & Matt Jones, UKCEH. Icons for peatbog and nutrients.

#WhimBog, #Scotland is the #LTESiteOfTheWeek.

Netty van Dijk & Matt Jones from @ukceh.bsky.social are looking at the effects of different amounts & forms of #nitrogen on #peatland
bit.ly/WhimBog

Watch this introduction #video too: bit.ly/IntroToWhimBog 🌏

In southern Estonia, the ForPeat Open Lab is exploring how forestry and #peatland ecosystems can coexist more sustainably. Located in Rumba, the study site covers 50 hectares within a 500-hectare spruce-dominated peatland forest, an area shaped by decades of forestry and drainage.

One of the many advantages of working on #peatland sites 😍

The sunny weather has brought the mountain hares out to play 😎 Our #peatland contractor spotted four on his walk to work - they still have their white winter coats, so they're easy to see 🐰

This video is from last spring, but it's worth another watch 😊

The bunds are doing their thing during this wet weather 😀

Bunds can be placed across eroding water channels to slow the flow of water, trap sediment and create shallow pools 💦
We currently use heather bales and coir logs, but are planning to trial wool logs shortly 🐑 Watch this space 👀 #peatland

Busy week at PERG!

We kicked things off with a workshop on defining success criteria for #peatland #restoration.
Great conversations about what, when, how, and by whom.

Key takeaway: success criteria need to be context‑specific and reflect restoration trajectories, not fixed thresholds.

It's a privilege to engage with these magnificent birds during #peatland restoration work 😍

Going Ghostbusters on Peatlands The ones I think of are more open, and they have these really stunted black spruce and tamarack trees. I think they look a little bit like something from Doctor Seuss. They’re scraggly little trees with a little tuft of needles at the top. They don’t necessarily look majestic. A lot of them are maybe 10 feet tall and kind of sparse. Then in between, you just have this moss-covered ground, and oftentimes it’s really undulating with these hummocks and hollows. You’ll often find some really cool plants like, pitcher plants or sundews, another carnivorous plant. Or, you might see little bog cranberries, which are pretty cool because the cranberries are big and the plant is this tiny little thing. The size of the berry is a little bit too big for the plants, it seems like. Once you start looking closely, that’s where you start to see a lot of these really unique plants in peatlands...

Going Ghostbusters on Peatlands
->Nature | More on "Peatlands and their unique ecosystems" at BigEarthData.ai | #Peatland