WALE'S BOG AND FEN EXPLORATION

Another field visit to the Wale’s wetlands within the 3rd week of a commencing of course. I must say that was an excellent opportunity for me to understand further about the Wales’s fens and bogs in detail and make myself more prepare for future fieldwork.  Although, that trip was with bachelor’s students for their field survey but it was equally informative for me.

Firstly, we went to Cors Erddreiniog NationalNature Reserve in the morning, which is located between Bryn Teg and Capel Coch in eastern Anglesey, though we had a chance to visit this place earlier also during LIFE+ project conference but this time we were there to explore another region of the Nature Reserve.

Map Cors Erddreiniog NationalNature Reserve

Cors Erddreiniog National Nature Reserve

During this visit, we had an opportunity to perform field survey with junior’s, which included estimating soil PH that was neutral, soil conductivity, soil depth, biodiversity estimation and descriptive study of the biodiversity. This was amazing experience for us because we were utilizing our knowledge to teach juniors like an expert, I was enjoying that teaching part since it’s my passion to teach others.

Myself after estimating fen depth

Flora

Actively growing Migneint bog

Flora: Red Sphagnum and heather

Later, we went to visit another site Migneint (Gwynedd). This is an area of upland heathland, blanket mire and upland grass in the Snowdonia National Park, between the villages of Ysbyty Ifan and Ffestiniog. It is either the largest area of blanket bog in Wales, or the, after the Berwyn range, further to the east. This was indeed a very mesmerizing place for any wetland scientist. 

Though, it was very tough to walk on the bog, but we got an opportunity to walk over and experience the diversity of biodiversity. I can’t describe how tough was to walk on the bog but can say many students fell down into the bog unfortunately, I was also one of them. Though falling down was definitely an unfortunate thing but weather was fortunate for us at that day. Inspite of falling down we had field survey with bachelor’s students. While survey pH recorded was low, reasons behind low pH relies on two factors 1).The supply of minerals is only from precipitation 2). Sphagnum which create an environment that is acidic. Along with this, the organic content of the peat increases due to slow decomposition rate, which increases the absorption and cations exchange process. These changes lead to the domination of hydrogen ions and pH falls sharply.

While talking about Biodiversity, we didn’t had chance to see much except sphagnum,heather, cotton grass, mushroom, spiders and few frogs. That was bit disappointing but rest of the experience was excellent.