Clara Bog

Raised bogs form where peat accumulates over thousands of years until the surface rises into a shallow dome above the surrounding land, fed only by rainfall. Almost all of Ireland's have been cut, drained or planted; Clara is among the largest and least damaged remaining, covering around 460 hectares, and it is designated a Nature Reserve and a Ramsar site. A boardwalk about a kilometre long runs out onto the intact surface, which is the only way to see it without sinking or damaging it, and from the boardwalk the doming is visible along with the pool systems, sphagnum lawns, bog cotton, sundew and cranberry. A road cut across the bog in the 1950s caused subsidence and altered the hydrology on one side, and the restoration work since has involved blocking drains and letting water levels rise. The visitor centre in Clara explains the ecology.

History

The bog formed in a depression, once a shallow lake, at the end of the last ice age, where an esker left by the glaciers cut off drainage to the north. Peat cutting and the Clara to Rahan road, built across it in the late 18th century, have changed it: the bog sank up to six metres after the road and its drains cut it in two (Wikipedia, Clara Bog).

The landscape

• The domed surface - the raised profile visible from the boardwalk.
• The bog plants - sphagnum lawns, sundew, bog cotton and cranberry.
• The pool systems - the natural wet hollows across the intact surface.
• The restoration - blocked drains and rising water levels on the damaged side.

When to go

April to October; bog cotton is at its best in June and the sundews are visible through summer. The boardwalk is exposed with no shelter at all.

Practical notes

Do not step off the boardwalk - the surface is fragile and you will damage it and sink. Fully exposed to weather for the whole walk. The visitor centre keeps limited hours, often seasonal.

Nearby

Tullamore is east; Lough Boora Discovery Park is south.

Key facts