Feb

Flanders Moss

(26th April 2026)


Sometimes, when life gets too much you just have to take yourself (and your parents) down to the local bog.

Flanders Moss is the British Isles’ largest raised peat bog. First formed around 8’000 years ago, the bog lies in the Carse of Stirling and was once part of a vast network of bogs carpeting the Carse. Now, it is a lonely bog - the last (bog) bastion and a soggy haven for wildlife¹.

At this time of the year, Flanders Moss is boiling with tadpoles and Male  smooth newts performing their extravagant tail manouevures to (attempt to) impress the ladies; leaning over one particular pool, I spotted at least 15 vying for the attention of one singular female...² 

Much to my delight, we came across a number of little common lizards basking along the board walk. Surprsingly, they didn’t seem all that bothered by 3 pink blobs looming over them in silence.

Flanders Moss is not just an excellent spot for cooing over sunning reptiles and soliticous amphibians, it is an extremely important safehouse for flora and fauna. Among the plant species, the bog is home to wild cranberry and the increasingly disappearing bog rosemary, which are visited by even rarer insects, including the Rannoch Brindled Beauty (Lycia lapponaria) which is now mostly restricted to the Scottish mainland³. 

And finally, the bog’s all important impact on climate change: Flanders Moss, as a peat bog with a huge area of sphagnum moss (which promotes peat accumlation), locks in large quantities of carbon. Through the management of the site, and maintaining water levels, the carbon is prevented from from oxidising and being released into the atmosphere ⁴. 


1 Read more about Flanders Moss from the experts at the Scottish Geology Trust: https://www.scottishgeologytrust.org/geology/51-best-places/flanders-moss/

2 Watch this excellent episode of David Attenborough’s The Secret Garden for more newt action, although here these are Palmate newts: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002tsb4/secret-garden-series-1-3-the-lake-district

3 National Biodiversity Network  atlas - map of recorded sightings of the Rannoch Brindled Beauty: https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NHMSYS0000520878

4 Scotland’s National Nature Reserves: The Story of Flanders Moss: https://web.archive.org/web/20221104022442/https://www.nature.scot/sites/default/files/2018-02/The%20Story%20of%20Flanders%20Moss%20National%20Nature%20Reserve.pdf

Cawood, E., (2026), Flanders Moss looking North West towards the Trossachs


Cawood, E., (2026), Flanders Moss Smooth Newts



Cawood, E., (2026), A particularly magnificent caterpillar


Cawood, E., (2026), A common lizard basking on the board walk


Cawood, E., (2026), Flanders Moss: Common Lizard



Cawood, E., (2026), Flanders Moss bog pool


Cawood, E., (2026), Flanders Moss looking North