Bog Standard

On the agenda of Tuesday's Blacka Moor RAG meeting was the management of Cowsick Bog, a subject that comes up when Blacka Blogger meets people on the moor. To explain takes up more space than usual so this is a longer post.

There's always been a bog at Cowsick and it's of course always been wet. But a public footpath across the bog has always been fairly easy to use. The best thing about Cowsick is the flowering of the yellow bog asphodel in July, not otherwise a great time on Blacka.

Several years ago SWT, without consulting, stuck several sheets of plywood as dams on the east side of the bog where excess water ran off into the stream that becomes Blacka Dyke. Presumably the bog for them was not boggy enough - maybe it didn't even come up to Bog Standard. More likely a whim of an English Nature (Natural England) officer was passed down as a suggestion and there was some grant money attached to it.

It didn't take long for the effect to be seen. The footpath became flooded and walkers found the path unacceptably wet. The result was they diverted off the path onto slightly better ground to the side - just where the best bog asphodel flowers grow. You might expect a wildlife trust to react swiftly to this but it was several months before any response at all came from them. It was in the form of a passage in a letter to RAG members saying that they had located some flagstones which they would eventually get round to putting in place along the original path. Meanwhile the trampling of the area continued and SWT showed no urgency to deal with the problem. Eventually the new flagstones were put down (inevitably causing more trampling) and for a time the access to the right of way was much improved even though there were reservations about the visual impact of imported materials.

But the problem was far from solved because since then the water level has continued to rise. Now the wooden bridge made from old railway sleepers, which has been there as long as anyone can remember, is in constant contact with the water. Cautious people have given up putting their weight on it. After a rainy day water which used to be absorbed by the bog has nowhere to go but to the area near the woods from where it rushes along paths to join the streams 150 yards further on. Wellington boots have become obligatory here while walking along the actual right of way is not recommended whatever your footwear.
The main point to make about this is the tardiness of any response from the conservation people. The obvious thing to do is to remove all, or at least some of the wooden damming panels. But SWT is nervous about the bog lovers in Natural England - people who I've never met on Blacka but who, from the dry comfort of their offices seem to wield considerable influence on my choice of route and footwear and much more besides.

Bog asphodel still survives at Cowsick but the section beside the path where the best examples used to grow is now under water and the plants prefer to be swampy rather than drowned so the best ones are on other parts of the bog.