A day on the bog

Killyconny Bog is a Special Area of Conservation on the Cavan Meath border that saw an explosion in interest over the last year as people got out an about in their local area. Its nomination for a European Environmental Award brought it to the attention of many unaware of the existence of the oasis of calm.

Killyconny Bog SAC (also known locally as Cloghbally Bog and Mullagh Bog) is a raised bog just outside Mullagh. It has played a significant role in the local community for generations but ambitious plans are in the pipeline to develop it as an amenity.

Bird life

The bog habitat now plays home to an astonishing variety of flora and fauna. Walkers on the periphery of the Killyconny bog are overwhelmed by the abundant bird life.

Bird species found on the bog include meadow pipit, skylark, kestrel and long-eared owl; the latter can be observed hunting for prey such as beetles, pygmy shrew and the common frog. Other invertebrates like mosquitoes, dragonflies, damselflies, wasps, and spiders all call the protected area home. This year the walkers were treated to the mellifluous sound of the cuckoo.

There are few raised bogs in this neck of the woods and Killyconny Bog seems to be one of the best developed.

Jim Smith is a member of St Killian’s Heritage Centre Trust in Mullagh and chairman of the Killyconny Bog Project. He has been involved in promoting the potential of Killyconny since 1997.

Jim pulls out a yellowing copy of The Anglo-Celt from that time. His letter to the editor warns about the importance of preserving bogland and warns of the implications of allowing the extinction of the bogs.

“Bog restoration is key in helping to reduce global warming and reverse climate change, as bogs sequester vast amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and are a vitally important constituent of the national carbon sink,” he says.

Jim’s day job is that of a dairy farmer, but his passion is the preservation of what he has coined as “the Amazon of Mullagh”. Jim says the uniqueness of Killyconny bog is reflected in the diversity of its wildlife.

The bog is home to a specific specimen of the Sundew plant. This is a colourful plant with fluid-filled leaves, pungent scents, glistening glue and grasping tentacles that lures their victims to a nasty end. Carnivorous plants are unique in that they attract, trap and derive benefit from digesting their prey.

The Sundew’s presence is one of the reasons the bog enjoys preservation status. The bog has many unique features: “It’s the most easterly raised bog and the finest example in this section of the country. Bogs are vital for maintaining water levels in the area. In 1997, the digging of drains in the bog was lowering the water table and this was affecting the water quality in the area. Killyconny Bog is a huge amenity for the area,” Jim tells.

Plans in the pipeline

The Killyconny Bog Project is only 12 months in existence, but they have already made their mark on the site. The group have received grant funding to put in a series of seats for people who walk the 1.7km round trip.

Plans are in train for other facilities to encourage people to walk the trail. Touch screens with information on the flora, fauna and heritage of the area are proposed. The future could see the paving of the existing walk to allow access for the visually impaired and wheelchair users.

Other items on the wish list include the development of a loop walk of the bog (around 19 kilometres) as well as a board walk to allow hikers traverse the peatlands in a safe manner without impacting on the vegetation and wildlife.

Walking on the bog itself is a hazardous endeavour: “It’s a preserved area, so people should not walk on it. Since the drains are closed off the bog has become very wet. That presents a problem. It can be dangerous to walk out there as it is 90% water. It will become even more waterlogged as time goes on. An approved board walk through the bog would give people a chance to see the plants and animals up close without causing any harm,” Jim explains.

There are five access points to trails that run on the periphery of the bog. Jim guides along a popular walking spot outside Mullagh that runs beside the fringe of the bog: “This is where we intend to put the seat. We are working in partnership with National Parks and Wildlife. We hope to avail of other grants to upgrade the roadway.”

The chairman of the Bog Project says the route has become increasingly popular in the last year.

Breeda Cooney, who is on a walk with her dog Bobby, reinforces this belief: “We only really discovered it during the pandemic. We can let Bobby off the lead. It is so quiet and peaceful. You can hear the birds. You can see all over the bog, it really has become very lush.”

Roisin Tormey left her bike at the head of the walk and is now enjoying the peace of the trail: “I don’t come at a set time, whenever I’m free I come across,” she says. “At any given time I could meet two or three people. It’s a popular walk.”

Roisin says the tranquillity of the walk is the main attraction: “It’s the peace and quiet. The birds singing. It’s just beautiful. I saw a wild orchid yesterday, and of course the cuckoo.”

Bernard Reilly has travelled from Kells to bring his dog for a walk. He has a pair of binoculars around his neck: “Yeah, I saw a kite out yesterday and I just thought I’d bring the binoculars to see if I could get a better look at it,” as if on cue a dark shape hovers on the wind as it stoops on its prey. Bernard says the quiet trail is a wonderful amenity.

Jim believes the growing interest in the walking trail along the bog will improve the facilities that can be made available to allow people enjoy the resource: “The Killyconny Bog Project will go from strength to strength,” he concluded.

The ecology of the raised bog

Ireland has an abundance of locations where the three key ingredients in the formation of bogs prevail - rainfall, low temperatures and restricted drainage. Over time, the waterlogged conditions of fens inhibit the rate of decomposition and create the acidic peat that accumulates to form raised bogs.

Looking out across the expanse of the 191 hectare site near Mullagh, the brown blanket disguises the diversity before you. The dominant plant of the bog is the sphagnum moss, but there is also an abundance of sedge, rushes, heather, bog asphodel, birch and bracken.

Bogs grow by 1mm a year. The peat depth in Killyconny is around 10 metres, dating the site at around 10,000 years old. Encompassing the townlands of Leitrim, Killyconny and Ferat, the bog is relatively intact as little drainage was ever done on the ‘high bog’.

The site was designated an SAC in 1997 as it was “capable of natural regeneration”. Since then the Office of Public Works (OPW) has undertaken work to maintain over 1,000 dams, mainly peat with some plastic dams where machinery can't reach. Since 2005 an experimental bog rehabilitation programme saw several thousand metres of drains blocked on both the high bog and the cutover.

It was originally estimated that, in 30 years, the cutover areas would revert to the original habitat, however the rate of regeneration has surprised ecologists working on the project.

Traditionally Ireland did not harvest the peat at a rate that was detrimental to the bog, however the advent of heavy machinery on the bog changed that. Hymacs scooping up buckets of soft peat into hoppers stripped the bog and started to endanger the future of all who depended on the habitat. In the late 90s Killyconny's future was endangered by such practices.