Shooting Times & Country – 17 July 2019

Going with the Flow

Blanketbog is vitaland wemust educatepeople aboutit,but that

education can be fun for everyone involved, says Megan Rowland

asetofquadrats(foursquaresbyfour

squares),a GPS,compassandruler,

torandomlyallocatedpointsindwarf

shrubheathorblanketboghabitats.

Dwarfshrubheathis usuallydrier

anddominatedbyling,bellandcross-

leavedheathheathers,blae,crowand

bearberry,alongsidevariousgrasses

andsomesphagnummosses.Blanket

bog,ontheotherhand,is thetypical

habitatofCaithnessandSutherland

— thatis,wet.It is madeupofa range

ofsphagnummossspeciesthatupon

dyingbecomecompressedandinthe

wet,acidicconditions, eventually

turnintopeat.

Valuablehabitat

Blanketbogis oneofthemost

valuablehabitatswehaveinthe

UK,witheverincreasingamounts

ofresearchdemonstratingitsrole

asa long-termcarbonstore.A neat

fact:theCaithnessandSutherland

peatlandsholdmorecarbonthanall

theabove-groundvegetationinthe

UK and Ireland. With that in mind,

Y

ouknowyou’reinrural
Scotlandwhen,upon
mentioningthelongest
dayhasjustpassed,the
immediate— usuallygleeful— reply
is:“Aye,thenights will be drawing
i naga i nnow.”
Whilethisis technicallytrue,
westillhavehalfa yearbeforethe
longestnight,soI’mnottoostressed.
There’smuchtobedonebetween
nowandthenanyway;habitat
surveying,MoyGameFair— the
Highlandsocialeventoftheyear
— deercounts,thestagseason,the
startofthehindseason,schoolgroup
visitsandtheodddeermanagement
qualificationassessment.
Habitatmonitoringis playingan
everincreasingpartoftheHighland
deerstalker’srole,withpractitioners
onthegroundbestplacedtorecord
theimpactofherbivores.Themethod
weuseis basedonthecurrent
ScottishNaturalHeritagebest
practiceguidance.It involvesseveral
J. MACPHERSON / M. ROWLAND / GETTY IMAGESdays wandering around the hills with

60 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

youcanseewhyit’simportant that

wemonitorthemclosely.

Tramplingandovergrazinginthe

peatlands— orFlowCountryasit is

calleduphere,fromtheGaelicfliuch

meaningwet— canpotentiallyleadto

areas of exposed peat. Once exposed

Highland stalker

Examiningtheteethgivesa goodindication

of an animal’s age and health at time of death

AreddeerstaginGlen

Etive– a vitalpartofthe

floraandfaunathatneed

to be monitored