Getting to grips with Sphagnum

Niamh, Eleanor, and Sam enjoying the views from the Cairngorm Plateau.

Last weekend several members of the group spent a wet and windy Sunday in the Cairngorms national park for a beginner course in Sphagnum moss identification organised by the Field Studies Council. Sphagnum is a key vegetation component in peatlands and can serve as an indicator of ecological change within its habitat while some species are particularly important for peat formation. The course provided valuable information on the key characteristics of Sphagnum and how to use a field key to identify different species. To get the most out of the weekend, Eleanor, Niamh, and Sam spent Saturday hiking up Cairn Gorm to enjoy some spectacular sunny views from the peak. This marked Niamh’s first ever Munro!

A patch of Sphagnum found on the course.

On Sunday, we started with some basics on Sphagnum identification and why it's such an important part of peatland habitats. Despite the wet and windy weather, we were then lucky enough to head out int

o the field to collect our own moss samples from several sites near Glenmore Lodge. The afternoon was then spent working on identification of these samples and checking our conclusions with the tutor. The course has provided us with a valuable base to develop our ID skills from and we look forward to utilising them soon in the coming months in our fieldwork.

There was a wide variety of Sphagnum identified by the whole course.

There was a wide variety of Sphagnum species identified by the whole course.

Thank you to Callum Urquhart and the Field Studies Council for tutoring and organising the course and Glenmore Lodge for hosting.