Foulshaw Moss, Lake District, Spring
A few days after my 36th birthday, back in 2019, my Dad came up to stay with us (he wasn’t living in Cumbria at the time). One of the places we explored with him was Foulshaw Moss, a raised bog just south of the imposing Whitbarrow Scar. We explored the area and took photos; at the time, I was mainly shooting on my Google Pixel 3XL with a shiny new Moment 18mm Wide v2 lens I’d got for my birthday.
A year and a few weeks on we visited Foulshaw Moss again, this time under totally different circumstances.
To accommodate social distancing measures due to the Coronavirus, the Cumbria Wildlife Trust (who manage the area) have blocked off certain dog-legs of the trail and turned it into a one-way route, encouraging people to keep their distance from each other.
On our visit we only saw one other man, who was busy bird spotting.
Foulshaw Moss is a pretty cool place. It’s a raised bog, named so because this type of bog rises in height over time as a result of peat formation. They’re very rare in Britain as historically they’re usually drained and used for planting trees. As raised bogs are acidic and wet habitats, their environment tends to encourage more unusual flora and fauna that can cope with the conditions.
In 2010 the Cumbria Wildlife Trust reintroduced a rare dragonfly to the site, the White-faced darter (Leucorrhinia dubia). In 2014 a pair of Ospreys nested at Foulshaw Moss, and have returned every year since. Hides have been erected at various points along the boardwalk trail for visitors to view the Ospreys through telescopes.