killeter forest

Like many areas in NW Europe, the hills of West Tyrone receive high rainfall from the prevailing Atlantic winds. This high moisture and cool climate waterlog the soil so that normal breakdown of plant remains is extremely slow. Because of this, peat covers large areas of upland. It is known as blanket bog. Today much of the blanket bog in Ireland has been exploited for fuel or planted over with conifer trees. Killeter Nature Reserve comprises two areas where the 'blanket' of peat is deep, and has many specialised plants. The peat-forming Sphagnum moss dominates, with heather or ling on the drier hummocks. White bog cotton and yellow bog asphodel add beauty throughout the summer. In the autumn frost signals an end to the growing season and the bog takes onthe rich autumn shades of brown and orange. Winter visitors may see the berries on the cranberry or hear the Greenland whitefronted geese as they fly overlooking for a bog on which to feed. These winter visitors, known as the bog-geese, traditionally fed on the roots of sedges in the vast bogs of Ireland.