Mullingar seminar is to set out the value of peat bogs

We may take our bogs for granted, but the Westmeath Heritage Forum doesn’t.

The forum will be spelling out exactly the value of bogs at a Biodiversity Week seminar on Thursday May 21 at 7pm in the county buildings.

Speakers will explain the historical, cultural and environmental aspects of raised bogs and how they differ from the upland bogs.

Raised bogs generally occur in the midlands. They are made up of years of accumulated peat or turf from partly decomposed plants, particularly sphagnum or bog mosses. The intact bog surface with high watertable contains a unique type of landscape, which comprises hummocks, hollows, lawns and pools.

This exposed, waterlogged and acid environment supports specialist plants and animals that can survive the harsh conditions.

Many ancient artefacts have been found in bogs and the pollen record preserved in the peat can tell much about past climates and the environment over the last 10,000 years.

Says council conservation architect, Bernadette Solon, 90 per cent of our raised bog habitat has been cut or farmed and of the rest, only about 1% is actively forming peat.”

The speakers are: wildlife rangers, Triona Finnen and Andrea Web; Ned Kelly, former Keeper of Irish Antiquities at the National Museum; Dr Craig Bullock from UCD, Nuala Madigan, Irish Peatland Conservation Council; and John Connolly from Coillte.

The event is public.

• Bogs seminar, May 21, 7pm, county buildings.