Saving our bogs a priority

Bogs are landscapes that need to the conserved, writes Donal Hickey

Unlike those of us who spent many days in the bog, as youngsters long ago, today’s children, if they make a visit to what’s left of the peatlands, will certainly not see or hear the curlew. Indeed, they might not spot any wildlife, but they are being taught to look at the bog in a very different way.

The boglands with which we were familiar, along the Cork/Kerry border, are now largely planted with trees, if not cut away entirely. And the people who still go there to cut turf are almost an extinct species, just like the once-thriving wildlife that graced this habitat.