Trossachs Bird of Prey Trail, The Trossachs Stirling, United KingdomFlanders Mosshttp://www.birdofpreytrail.com10:58 05-Sep-2010FLANDERS MOSS This National Nature Reserve encompasses some of the best natural habitat left in central Scotland. The Moss was once one of a whole series of bogs that studded the Carse of Stirling (the upper valley of the River Forth) and developed on water logged marine clays left after the ice age by the retreating sea. . The resulting raised bog is a special habitat, extremely rare in global terms, and hosts many specially adapted plants and animals. The Forth Valley bogs have long been used by local people. For hundreds of years they grazed them and cut peats from the edges for their home fires. However from 1750 efforts were made to remove the peat in a much larger scale that before to get to the more productive clay soils under the peat. Hundreds of hectares of bog were dug up and floated down the Forth and out to sea leaving the Carse of Stirling looking like an industrial landscape. The peat clearences finally halted when a down turn in the agricutural economics of 1850s made it no longer viable. Flanders Moss is one of the largest remaining intact bogs in the UK. Over the last 15 years restoration work has reversed the drying out of the bog caused by past damage and making it again a land of water for the bog wildife. Still difficult terrain for us humans, a new boardwalk and viewing tower (under construction) should make it more accessible. A great place to look out for buzzard, hen harrier, osprey and kestrels. For more details, contact Scottish Natural Heritage on 01786 450362. |