Scohaboy Bog County Tipperary

As we were staying in Cloughjordan Eco Village last weekend (check out my blog post here), we were looking for somewhere else to explore in the area and my google search showed me Scohaboy Bog which was just out the road from Cloughjordan itself.
I have long been fascinated with peatlands and bog areas, they are ecologically so interesting and also act as massive carbon sinks, so are hugely important in our drive to reduce carbon emissions.
Unfortunately bogs have been used for a long time as a source of fuel - my own grandfather had a plot of bog and I remember being out on the bog in the heat of summer, picking bog cotton. Peatlands began forming in Ireland about 11,700 years ago but our original peatlands have been reduced by almost 47% due to our exploitation of peat.

(Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128498859000202)

It is heartening therefore, to see more general awareness now of the importance of bogs and especially great to see all the work that goes into preserving and restoring these beautiful areas.
Scohaboy Bog is a raised bog and forms part of a natural heritage area. It is managed by Coillte and a lot of community effort and was awarded the European Year of Cultural Heritage mark by the Heritage Council of Ireland in 2018. The Scohaboy Facebook page describes the Community Conservation Story of the bog here and it's wonderful to see how community effort and cooperation, in tandem with larger government bodies, can bring about such positive environmental results.

It's a gorgeous walk around the bog, especially at this time of year when the autumn colour is in all its glory.





Although peatlands are not as dramatic as other landscapes, the beauty, for me, is knowing that they are a rich world of fascinating insect and plant life. The key to walking around bogs, I think, is to look at the ground as well as around - you can see fungi at this time of year and the rich green of sphagnum moss seemed particularly vivid when we were there!

Sphagnum Moss

The board walk is a brilliant achievement and is the perfect way to explore without damaging the delicate structure of the bog. The only downside is that you might need to step aside for other people if you are taking pics :)





There are different trails you can walk and I'm not totally sure which one we were on but it was a nice walk, less than two hours and we went in a loop which brought us through a gentle wooded area and then back around on the road where we parked.



This bog is a really gorgeous amenity and well worth a visit - pic below shows the work that Coillte are doing to preserve the area.


Hopefully you have enjoyed our Scohaboy visit and don't forget to check out my other #placestovisit posts!