Gift to Nature
an Isle of Wight conservation partnership
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Bohemia Bog
See our Facebook page for details of our winter work 2011 funded by the Environment Agency.
Bohemia Bog (a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation) is one of the most important botanical sites of the Island, reminiscent of a New Forest wetland and home to species found nowhere else here on the Island. It is a transition mire perched on a hillside near Godshill. Gift to Nature has worked here with the landowner, Environment Agency, wildlife trust and IW BAP partnership since 2002 and it is no exaggeration to say that this work has saved the site. The bog itself is tiny, perhaps 0.1 ha set in a paddock of 5 ha and was gradually disappearing under bramble and gorse scrub to the extent that grazing animals could no longer keep it in check and priority plant species were declining at an alarming rate.
We have cleared back overgrowth, set up fencing for grazing control, and begun to extend the bog by uncovering its margins. Gift to Nature arrange annual monitoring and occasional public walks. Gift to Nature will continue to manage the bog to preserve the fantastic wildlife while maximising the carbon storage potential. Better management of bogs is believed to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Bogs store carbon and prevent it entering the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. But they need to be managed well to increase the carbon storage potential and minimise emissions of methane. It seems that there is more carbon in British bogs than the forests of Britain and France together.
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