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Some reletives of mine own a 10 acre (or there about) cutover bog with birch woodland in north Down, Northern Ireland was once cut for peat but that has long since stopped. The peat digging in places did damage some of the bog in places (as it does), but many of flora has remained such as marsh thistle, spear thistle, marsh violet, hairy dog-violet, bramble, meadowsweet, silverweed, knapweed, greater trefoil, rosebay willowherb, gorse, dandelions, common nettle, sheeps sorrel and heather and quite a few others I can't quite remember of the top of my head. Heather dominates parts lots of the bog and the birch woodland which exists between two large open areas of the bog which has a few grey sallow trees. Quite a few different fern and moss species also exist here. Some areas are quite wet, and some get very dry if it doesn't rain (which for the past few weeks has been quite dry here and humidity has been as low as 44%) which has caused some of the heather to die back and dry out a lot.

As from what I have seen, its a great place for insects and also has a population of badgers and buzzards and even cuckoos have been spotted here in the past year which is now quite rare. Lots of moth species here and butterflies including Orange-Tip, Dark Green Fritillary, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Green-Veined White, Large & Small White, Small Copper, Common Blue, meadow brown, speckled wood and quite a large population of small heath which seem to out number other butterfly species here. Also lots of common heath, straw dot, narrow-bordered five spot burnet and yellow horned and emperor moths to name a few moths I have found, but I'll have to trap more throughout the year to get a full idea of what is about.

A few weeks ago I got a lot of seeds from native Irish bog plants and have began sowing the seeds in different areas of the bog to encourage more wildlife (insects) to the bog. The seeds are all from native Irish plants (except the scented mayweed which is from British stock since the Irish populations have went extinct): Bell Heather, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Bog Asphodel, Bog Cotton, Burdock, Bush Vetch, Corn Chamomile, Corn Marigold, Corn Poppy, Corncockle, Cornflower, Devil's bit Scabious, Eyebright, Fleabane, Foxglove, Greater Trefoil, Hoary Plantain, Lesser Knapweed, Marsh Bedstraw, Marsh Cinquefoil, Marsh Thistle, Meadow Buttercup, Meadowsweet, Ox-eye Daisy, Pokeweed, Purple Loosestrife, Ragged Robin, Red Bartsia, Red Campion, Red Clover, Red Rattle, Redshank, Ribwort Plantain, Rough Hawksbit, Scented Mayweed, Sheep's Sorrell, Sorrel, Water Avens, Wild Angelica, Wild Carrot, Yarrow, Yellow Flag Iris, Yellow Loosestrife, Yellow Rattle, Biting Stonecrop, Eyebright, Marsh Woundwort, Marsh Cinquefoil, Lesser Spearwort, Marsh Loosewort and Tormentil

Bell heather doesn't exist here so be nice to see it along with the normal heather, good for bees that might be around. Not sure exactly which species of bog cotton I have yet, but will have to see when it grows. No idea what pokeweed is either. Not sure if I have any of the last 7 plants there, but was told if they were available, they would have been part of the mix. The ​native Irish populations of Corn Marigold, Corn Poppy, Corncockle and Cornflower are very rare now because of British wildflower seed mixes being used and those either cross-breeding with the native plants causing genetic pollution, or those British versions only being the ones found. The native Irish cornflower almost went extinct but a few native populations were found and seeds were taken from those and grown, but once when this was done, an English grown cornflowers cross-bred with the native Irish ones and that almost lost them again but for now they are secure. Bog asphodel is also quite rare in Co Down, with a small population a few miles away and not sure how many others.

One of the few things I have left to do, besides already sowing some of these in different areas of the bog, is to cut away and remove some of the birch scrub that is encroaching on the open bog, which I can do if I find a free day sometime in the near future. My relatives are unable to do much but beause I spend more time on and around the bog itself than they actually do, thought I'd do most of the work.

Here are some images of the bog I have taken in the past. Was going to take some today when I found my camera sensor had dust on it which I may have to send to get cleaned if I can't remove it myself.
I'll keep an update on how this goes.

Good Luck with your efforts.
No Green Hairstreak or Large Heath?

My local branch of BC has a programme restoring a raised bog at Wester Moss (now a BC reserve) near Stirling largely involving removing invasive trees (birch & pine) & damming up ditches that had previously been dug to try to drain the bog.
If you just cut the birch it will regrow - you really need to kill it with herbicide (we got licenced contractors in).

Good Luck with your efforts.
No Green Hairstreak or Large Heath?

Thanks Scott. The green hairstreak has been found in the area (but that was in 1970-80s) but none since. The large heath appears to be absent from county Down, but at this site there is very little cotton grass at the moment so isn't as yet a great breeding site for them. I am hoping to maybe encourage marsh fritillary to breed here as I have seen records of one or two adults in different areas in the 10 mile area. There is a population on a wildlife trust owned bog but its feared they are in decline as the bog borders farmland which the fritillay are moving to which doesn't help them so much.

If you just cut the birch it will regrow - you really need to kill it with herbicide (we got licenced contractors in).

I understand that would be the case, I didn't mean mature trees as there is enough of those (any over 8-10 years old), but I meant the younger saplings. At the moment with birds nesting, can't do anything with the mature trees, although a few months back, some were coppiced in the middle of the woodland which helped a bit.

My local branch of BC has a programme restoring a raised bog at Wester Moss (now a BC reserve) near Stirling largely involving removing invasive trees (birch & pine) & damming up ditches that had previously been dug to try to drain the bog.

That is a good thing. There was never any pine here, but there is a long path that goes up to fields at the other side of the bog (bog is on the right of the path and the other side is farm fields) one of my relatives planted a few young scots pine trees along the side of the path, but I can't see how they will do well there.

I'll be doing a video series on the bog in the near future after I get my camera fixed and get back there again. The bog itself didn't have birch 50 years ago, one day they just appeared and before long the woodland appeared. There used to be a train track that ran past the bog and when the train passed, used to set the gorse and trees on fire, burning it back, but the train has long since gone and so has the track and there is only a small building at the gate near the bog that used to be part of the station that has been abandoned since.

A couple of miles away is a protected bog managed by the environment agency (Blaeberry Island Bog): http://www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/protected_ ... g_assi.htm so when I get a chance, will have to go there and see how it looks as it has some rare plants, insects and animals like short eared owls, black darter dragonflies and round leaved sundew, cross leaved heath etc... I know once this whole area used to be one large bog until peat digging greatly reduced it and only a few areas are left.

Hi Dave,

Even small birch saplings can be very hard to get rid of.
At least here in Scotland birch is usually a pioneer species so does turn up seemingly out of the blue.

It would be great if you could get Marsh Frit.

Even small birch saplings can be very hard to get rid of.

Your not wrong there, last time I was there, I pulled up 3 saplings only about 20cm or less in height, roots quite long and big.

I didn't mention, there is a part on the left side of the path which has the bog on the right, that has another area of bog but it has lots of trees, mostly grey sallow, ash and birch and this is where the badger set is, I have seen the paths of the badgers before, but never actually seen them. When I get enough money I am going to get a remote camera and put one near the set and see if I can get footage of them. My camera can take time lapse and act as a remote camera, but its not the camera I could leave out overnight though. Can't really access this area because of the trees and gorse that stops access. At the edge of this area is a river running along that goes underground and comes out and runs along the bog at the edge of the woodland and along to nearby fields.

There is a hawthorn/blackthorn hedge at the edge of bog which I have been looking for small eggar signs since it was recorded in the 5 mile area sometimes in the 1970s but not since but has not really been looked for. Have to see if any cats are around, or even in areas not far away.

I am going to see if I can get a couple of alder buckthorn and find a place for it here since there are a few records of brimstones in the area but they can't breed due to no buckthorn here, its now one of the rarest shrub/trees in Northern Ireland along with Juniper and it would be good to try and encourage brimstones to breed here and establish a population in years to come after years of no breeding brimstones known in NI. It is known that the odd vagrant from south of Ireland, sometimes appear this far north so this might be a good start.

There is an area on the far side of the bog that has lots of orchids, a few species I think common spotted orchid and early marsh orchid and not sure what else, very nice to see them.