
Blanket bog
Found across the Scottish uplands, blanket bog occurs mostly in northern and western areas with gentle slopes and poor drainage.
Found across the Scottish uplands, blanket bog occurs mostly in northern and western areas with gentle slopes and poor drainage.
Blanket bog is a type of peatland found in only a few parts of the world with cool, wet and, usually, oceanic climates.
Under these conditions, bog mosses and other bog plants break down very slowly to gradually form a layer of peat. Peat depth varies from 50cm to 3m on average, but depths of up to 8m aren’t uncommon.
Scotland has so much wet ground as:
Peat develops in these regularly wet conditions and in turn holds more water. This encourages more bog plants, which results in more peat being laid down.
Blanket bog is one of Scotland’s most common semi-natural habitats, covering some 1.8 million hectares – 23% of our land area. Scotland holds a significant amount of the European and world resource of this rare habitat.
Blanket bog dominates our rolling moorlands, especially in the:
Lowland raised bog is another type of peat bog found in Scotland.
Peatlands are a living landscape. Peat builds up at different rates to form patterns of hummocks and hollows, and lochs and lochans dot our wide expanse of peatlands.
Humble sphagnum mosses drive the process of peat formation.
Our peatlands are also known for:
The Peatlands of Caithness and Sutherland: Management Strategy 2005–2015
Scotland's Living Landscapes – Boglands
Natural Heritage Futures: Hills and Moors