Rare moss rediscovered at Tregaron bog restoration site

Image source, Natural Resources Wales

Image caption, Cors Caron National Nature Reserve

Two species of rare bog mosses have been rediscovered on a nature reserve more than 50 years after they were last recorded.

Baltic bog-moss (Sphagnum balticum) and Golden bog-moss (Sphagnum pulchrum) were found on Cors Caron National Nature Reserve near Tregaron, a protected lowland bog in Ceredigion.

Such mosses are said to be crucial to a bog as they decompose to form peat.

Natural Resources Wales has been restoring the site.

It said Baltic bog-moss, which is usually found in sub-Arctic areas like Scandinavia and Siberia, had been recorded on about five sites in Britain.

Golden Bog-moss is known on a handful of sites in Wales, including at Cors Fochno which is part of the Dyfi National Nature Reserve near Borth.

Ecologist Dave Reed said he was "delighted" with the finds as both sites were being restored by the .

Raised bogs are domed shaped areas of peat that can be 39ft (12m) deep that have built up over thousands of years.