Dear all,
Russell Anderson has come up with some suggestions for a possible field 
visit during the Glasgow BES.  Please could you register your interest and 
cite your preference.  Any comments welcome.

The message that follows is from Russell:
One possible visit would be to Langlands Moss. It's a raised bog near
East Kilbride, part of which was afforested in the 1960s or 1970s and
then 'restored' using helicopter logging by the Scottish Wildlife Trust
in 1995. It was important as the first demo of deforestation/restoration
of a lowland raised bog in Britain and became the first of many.  I
think it has since suffered from vandalism and neglect but might still
be of interest. As far as I know there has been no research so there
would be no scientific results to discuss. It's a small site and has a
boardwalk on part of it. If you think it could be suitable, we'd need to
check with Scottish Wildlife Trust and/or Calderglen Country Park
(current managers of the site) that they were happy for us to visit.
They might provide someone to host the visit.

Another possibility would be Murdostoun/Heatherhead Moss, a mostly
afforested raised bog near Shotts, currently the subject of a windfarm
development application. Again there has been no research but it would
be a good site to discuss issues such as the impacts of windfarms on
peatlands and restoration of bogs altered by afforestation. There is
another raised bog, Mossband, very nearby that is interesting for the
anthropogenic impacts it has suffered, including peat cutting,
afforestation and the digging of pools for lint retting. Forestry
Commission Scotland manages these two sites so I could arrange
permission to visit.

A third possibility would be to visit some very good blanket mire on the
Slamannan Plateau near Cumbernauld. Again no research but issues of
repeated fires and deforestation.

None of these would be as good as a proper research site with results to
discuss or a monitored managed site but they might do if suggestions for
better sites are not forthcoming.

Best wishes

Russell
--------------------------------------------
Mr Russell Anderson
Ecologist for Open Habitats
 
Forest Research
Roslin, Midlothian
EH25 9SY
 
Tel: 0131 445 6971
Fax: 0131 445 7335
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Website: wwwforestresearch.gov.uk