Dreariness and dangers: the other side of the peat bog
There are many people who avoid walks in the peat bog in autumn and winter, because the emptiness depresses them. Without sun and without animals to look at, I suppose it does look a bit gloomy and empty (photo taken yesterday afternoon):
Olympus Stylus 1s, 28mm, ISO160, f8, 1/60s
I'm used to it, though, and I like the quiet.
Then there are the dangers. It's a peat bog, and peat bogs can be treacherous. Look at this photo, for instance:
Olympus Stylus 1s, 28mm, ISO100, f8, 1/60s
It looks like you could just walk to the dead tree, solid ground with grass, just a few puddles. In fact, what you are looking at is mainly water; the green stuff you see around the puddles is peat moss, which acts like a sponge. Most of the grass is actually growing on top of a thick layer of peat moss. Try to walk here, and you will disappear at least up to your armpits, and it is very hard to get out again, so watch where you walk and watch your children.
Here's a picture showing grass and sundew growing on top of peat moss:
Olympus XZ-1, 28mm, ISO100, f8, 1/80s
Sometimes, even small birches grow on top of the peat moss, to complete the illusion of solid ground. Watch your step, don't become a bog body!
That's not gloomy - it's gorgeous! Those changing colors show how much activity had been going on in the summer. How low to the ground did you have to get to capture the sundew image? They can be so tiny!
This is round-leaved sundew, a little bigger than most, that helped. Normally, I just sit the camera on the ground for these shots with a pebble under it for aiming, but I couldn't here, as the camera would have sunk. I was lying flat on my stomach on solid ground with my arms stretched out over the soggy bog when I took this shot.
haha -- that made me chuckle. You are a dedicated photographer, for sure. I'm glad you didn't sink in and become another Bogman to be discovered ages from now.
@ocrdu are we allowed to bring those sundew home? they're really cute right?
I wanted to bring one home but hub said leave it alone hahaha
small but really wowza.
It's awesome you got to captured it this clear !
emptiness in autumn? - they will just have to take a closer look :)
these days we still have frogs in the garden and insect and I still have passion flowers blooming
isn't this unusual? and much fallen leaves than last year so freaking beautiful :)
They are cute, the one in the photo is round-leaved sundew, oblong-leaved sundew is tiny in comparison. They even have little white flowers in season. All types of sundew in the wild are protected species in The Netherlands, so your worse half was right 8-).
@ocrdu better half :P .. better yet great half :P hahha
he's also an environmentalist and when I was new here I got gaga about how beautiful nature is I always wanted to bring something home from the veluwe - a newt, adelaides, beetle - he had to keep saying - leave them alone
hahaha it was hard
nature here is very beautiful - soooooo beautiful I love this country a great lot for the environment!
This post has been ranked within the top 80 most undervalued posts in the second half of Nov 09. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $3.68 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.
See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Nov 09 - Part II. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.
If you are the author and would prefer not to receive these comments, simply reply "Stop" to this comment.
I don't know if you saw the season finale of The Last Kingdom. There are some scenes in marshes, but I don't know if they would qualify as peat bogs. Is it only the presence of peat moss that distinguishes between them?
A bog is a wetland that accumulates peat, and peat can come from any dead plant materials, but mostly (sphagnum) moss. A bog is a type of mire, the other type is a fen. Bogs get their water from rain only, they are not connected to the ground water.
Wikipedia: "A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species. Marshes can often be found at the edges of lakes and streams, where they form a transition between the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They are often dominated by grasses, rushes or reeds. This form of vegetation is what differentiates marshes from other types of wetland such as swamps, which are dominated by trees, and mires, which are wetlands that have accumulated deposits of acidic peat."
So, not only, but mainly the presence of peat is the distinguishing factor.
Like a flow chart for vocabulary.
I'm Dutch, it took me a long time to get all the English terms straight. Never saw a language with so many terms for "wet bit of land" 8-).