Dank, ancient and quite fantastic: Scotland’s peat bogs breathe again

Researchers are using satellite technology to monitor the health of these vital carbon sinks and help restore them

Flanders Moss bog is slumped on the flat, farmed landscape of the Carse of Stirling in Scotland like a jelly fungi. It wobbles when you walk on it, and a metal pole goes down eight metres before reaching hard ground. This lowland-raised bog is a dome of peat fed mainly by rainfall and it acts like a single organism - the whole thing has to be looked after for any part to be in really good shape. If it is drained in one area it will affect the water level across the entire bog.

For much of human history peat bogs have been thought of as wastelands. This 860-hectare (2,125-acre) site has been hacked away and drained since the early 1800s to make space for fertile farmland below. It is about 60% of its original size. Bogs scar easily and the drainage ditches made more than 100 years ago are still visible.