Friday 18 June 2021

Disappointingly dry?



Do you ever question your human's judgement?

Yesterday afternoon Gail took me for a short walk on Findon Moor, a rare (in Aberdeenshire) and environmentally valuable example of coastal heathland.  It's a place I love, but we rarely go there. Apparently because it's Too Boggy, and Gail thinks that is a Bad Thing.

Well she's totally wrong!

First and foremost, I love boggy places. So soft and squelchy under the paws. 

And secondly, did you know that peat bogs store twice as much carbon as all the world's forests combined? 

But only as long as they stay wet, so oxygen-loving microbes don't come along and convert all the carbon to carbon dioxide. More CO2 in the atmosphere means warmer temperatures thus more peat bogs dry out, creating a dangerous feedback loop. 

Climate-wise, it's just as important to keep peat bogs wet as it is to preserve the Amazon Rain Forest and the Great Barrier Reef.

Scotland has a lot of peat bogs and I hope I have convinced you that they are in fact a Good Thing. 

Yesterday the normally boggy bits of Findon Moor were disappointingly dry. I hope this is not a foretaste of things to come.

Happy Nature Friday friends! Thanks again to our LLB Gang friends for hosting the blog hop.

Oh and did you know that you can do your bit to keep the world's climate under control by not using peat in your garden?

15 comments:

  1. maybe the boggy place was dry because we got it? we were at a place yesterday what is never boggy but this time it was... ooh the noise when you pull a shoe out of the mud, while you try to stand one one leg like a stork... (it never works you always are in with your stilt and da sock)

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  2. Yes, Bertie I'm afraid I frequently question my human's judgement, though not on such a serious environmental subject. Usually it's about mealtimes and when I'm supposed to be fed!
    That's very worrying that the beat bogs are drying out - I can see the cracks in the ground in the last photo. This winter and spring we've had more rain than usual, so that may be to do with global warming too.

    Love,
    Inca xx

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  3. Morning Bertie
    I think Bouncing Bertie Bog Boy has a nice ring to it.
    Golly it is scary to think anything in normally saturated Scotland could be dry.
    I like the feel of wet sandy beaches in my toes!
    Happy Friday Cecilia

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    1. PS dogs are allowed on 6' leash (don't know if their are leash measuring police). And bikes permitted too
      Hugs Cecilia

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  4. first of all I did not know peat could be used in a garden and 2nd that means I don't use it.. in fact all of this is new to me. the only time I knew about peat bogs is in my murder mysteries when they bury bodies in the bog. I popped out to ask google if we have peat here in USA and we do, but not a lot, they are way up in the north and I am south to the bone. thanks for the info and for making me look for more. sorry it is so dry, just came from 2 other bloggers talking about how dry it is. All over USA, Canada drought is rampant

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  5. Bummer that you can't sink your tootsies into squishy ground, Bertie. Mom just cut the grass and it's so horribly dry. We need rain so desperately too.

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  6. Hi friend! Ojo here! Boggy places are the BEST! All that wet earth holds so many smells!!! I walked in a boggy place today! Mine was very wet. And I was very wet once our walk was done. I'm sorry to hear yours wasn't as wet as ours!

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  7. We have never been to a boggy place, but we think it sounds like we might enjoy a romp through it. After all that rain we had in May and early June, our ground is extremely dry now with the onset of terrible heat. We are having to run the sprinklers a lot.

    Woos - Lightning, Misty, and Timber

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  8. That looks like a great place for a walk and you look like you're having lots of fun. We hope the bog gets boggier soon. Global warming is not a good thing.

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  9. Thanks for the science lesson, Bertie. We're going to look up peat bogs and see if there are any in our area. We do have a lot of small lakes and ponds and swampy spots.

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  10. What fine bouncing, Bertie! And bog bouncing must be the best!

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  11. Oh dear, that’s a worry—dry bogs. We hope did your bit to hydrate some of it, Bertie.

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  12. hari OM
    Wait.... how did this post get past me??? Sometimes the delivery system around here just doesn't meet standard.

    Oh yes, the peat bogs are so very impawtant and I know that up in Sutherland there is lots of clearing away of trees to return the land to its original bog, now that that pawtikular penny has dropped... hugs and wags, YAM-aunty xxx

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  13. Dry or not, it looks like you had so much fun
    running about! And thanks for the info about peat, we didn't know!

    Rosie and Redford

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