Bog Myrtle & Peat

The seasons are changing up on the moor, and while the first cotton grass flowers are still invisible beneath the sphagnum moss, snowdrops have suddenly appeared on the low ground over the past week. Crows and rooks are starting to look like they might be falling into pairs, and there’s no doubt that the red grouse are beginning to feel some primal stirrings. They cackle and buck along the top stones of the old dyke which runs across the bog as I walk it every day to check my traps.

The hen harriers are also becoming more and more conspicuous, and it has now been several days since I have been around my traps without seeing at least one of the pair. In the same way, moles are on the move, and I have recently taken up the trowel to thwart their efforts in a professional capacity for yet another year. More on that anon.

All this change means that there is some serious work in the offing. I have a delivery of one hundred more black grouse friendly trees arriving in the next month, and a great deal of useless sitka needs to be cleared before they can be planted properly. This year I am focussing on planting hawthorns, but a fair sprinkling of silver birch and a big clump of upright juniper should build on what I started last year.

I also plan to swipe paths and clearings in some particularly dense undergrowth used by the greyhen last year before this year’s growth really kicks in. I was worried last year that, while the bog provides excellent cover for black grouse chicks, it is almost too dense. I had a horrible feeling that, for a day old chick standing less than four inches high, it would be nigh on impenetrable, so this year I am going to break it up a little.

It is important not to create long straight paths which could be used by predators, but little clearings and zig-zag paths should have benefits in June when chicks are up and about.