Chartley Moss - Incredible Bog Experience!

Cost: £6 (£7 guest) paid as £2 (£3 guest) deposit when booking plus £4 cash donation on the day (which supports conservation of the reserve)

I am indebted to Spice member Dave Jones for introducing me to this unusual National Nature Reserve. It is not somewhere you can usually visit as it is both potentially very dangerous and is closely protected as a habitat for some extremely rare fauna and flora. However, we have been able to arrange a Spice visit by special arrangement with its very enthusiastic new keeper, Paul Shires (who has taken over from Adam Dempsey who some of you will remember from past visits).

So what is it? This wonder of nature is a floating peat bog – basically 10 feet of peat floating over a 40 foot deep lake. It’s a very rare phenomenon, originally caused 5000 years ago when a spring fed wet woodland was undermined through the dissolving of salt in its underlying rock. Known properly as a “schwingmoor”, it makes for a really freaky environment where the whole ground wobbles and creates waves as you move and the trees wobble with it! There are also the tops of trees that have reached a weight where the bog cannot support them anymore and they have collapsed through to a watery grave! Much of the site is too dangerous to access but Paul knows the safe pathways to all the most interesting bits. He will also tell us about residents such as the white-faced darted dragonfly that is so rare that people travel from all over the world to see it at Chartley Moss. For more details see HERE

Our Tour: Paul proposes a guided walk and site visit of 2 - 2½ hours including a detailed explanation. Is can be quite tough under foot and very wet, so good boots or wellies are essential. The highlight will no doubt be his ‘bouncing bog’ trick where we jump up and down to get the waves in the moss surface and the trees wobbling from side to side .. “It’s always a winner with people who’ve never been on a schwingmoor”!