Soaking and Draining

Cowsick Bog was partially drained to improve its effectiveness as a grouse rearing site in the interests of the then landowner who was concerned only with what it offered for shooting game.The grips were dug to drain away the water. Blocking the grips in recent times was the right thing to do, though it was done with no care for appearance nor the convenience of the public. At the same time a perverse attempt was made to kill off trees near the bog by poisoning. This was only partly successful and also an ugly and insensitive operation leaving dead and half-dead trees standing. Now several of the surviving trees have been felled for no intelligent reason that can be detected beyond giving chain saw operators something to do.

Trees of course help the ground to retain some of the water that runs off towards Blacka Dyke.A lot of the water draining into Cowsick has come from over the road where there is a grassy sheep pasture on Houndkirk Moor.  Recently SRWT arranged to have an area here made bare which had originally been covered with a mix of heather, bracken and scrub. This is now waterlogged, not helped by the even more recent tree felling; oak, beech and birch and one hundred year old larch have gone. The spoils of this operation are scattered around some times tidily others not.

Water has always run through here on its way to the dyke; this will not make the run-off any slower. It seems that in their minds a bog must be some kind of pure human construct which does not allow trees near it however much nature insists on placing them there.

A sudden drop takes it over a rocky ledge on its way to join the River Sheaf which in turn joins the Don.