Exploring Habitats: Brilliant Bog

Did you know that the Earth’s bogs store more carbon than its rainforests? Bog mosses are hero plants, building peat bogs at the rate of a metre per millennium. The bogs that blanket the upland plateaux of Dartmoor not only lock away carbon and regulate river flow but are home to some rare and extraordinary plants and animals. Plants here have to live off just rainwater and sunshine; all that is except those which have taken to eating insects, as seen on The Green Planet!

We’ll go in search of sticky little insect-eating plants and others that flower in high summer such as colourful bog asphodel and the waving heads of bog cotton. We’ll learn about life on the bog and enjoy the wild, remote beauty of Dartmoor’s peaty heart.

Start point
Postbridge visitor centre car park PL20 6TH

Distance
7 miles

Knowledge level
Beginner

Walk difficulty
Moderate — some rough, wet and slightly boggy ground

Children
Suitable for 16 years and above.