Loreto team knee deep in Cloncrow Bog

While many students spend their Transition Year exploring urban career paths, three Loreto College students have spent theirs knee-deep in the peat of Cloncrow Bog near Tyrrellspass.

In ‘“Plant Life on a Raised Bog’, Lucy Pierce, Mia Armstrong, and Amanda Gudaityte chose to examine the impact that recent restoration efforts have been having on the ecosystem at Cloncrow.

Amanda explained that under the Care Peat Project, drains on the ‘high bog’ were blocked, and last year, the drains near the boardwalk were also blocked.

“We decided we wanted to do a project in that area: we said we would investigate the plant life in two transects that run parallel to each other, approximately 6 metres apart.”

In comparing the two transects, Mia reveals, the team had to measure the peat depth, the water table and the pH value. As part of their endeavour, they even found themselves making their own piezometers – using Wavin piping and a nylon stocking – to assess the water table.

The various tests the girls conducted threw up some interesting findings, states Lucy: “From carrying out this investigation we found many things. From studying from the wet transect, we found that sphagnum dominated this transect.

“We were not surprised to find that, as sphagnum moss thrives in wet areas, And in the dry transect, we were not surprised to have found that heather dominated transect as it is taking over because it’s dry. Over time the heather percentage might go down after rainfall if the water table increases.”

The team see their project as a baseline study: “We’re hoping that maybe next year could carry out this investigation again and compare it to our project now. Or maybe someone in the future will compare it to our studies and carry it out again,” says Lucy.

The girls are gratified to find that the health of Cloncrow Bog is generally good, and that it has been improving,

“It’s really important for the bog to be intact and active as a bog and a carbon sink. So when it’s not an intact, active raised bog, it emits carbon into the atmosphere.”