Fen Management Handbook - Scottish Natural Heritage

Case Study 7.1
Fen Water Management
– Montiagh’s Moss
Montiaghs Moss (pronounced “Munchies”), which lies a short distance from the
eastern shore of Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland (grid reference J092653), was
formerly a lowland raised bog. The site has been cut-over to the extent that no
remnants of original bog surface remain. The site is linked to Lough Neagh and
to nearby Portmore Lough by a man-made watercourse called the Navvies Drain.
Successive lowering of Lough Neagh over the past 150 years has probably taken
the water table down by about 2.3 m.
Historically many families would have cut peat on the bog and although some of
the fen peat could have been cut and dried directly for burning, most of the site
demanded a different technique called puddling. The peat was wetted in short
trenches, trampled to form a peaty porridge and then spread out in an even layer on
adjacent ground to dry. It was then broken into turves that had improved burning
characteristics. This technique left a mosaic of pools and ‘floors’ of different
wetness. The practice of hand-cutting turf has now virtually stopped, and natural
succession has resulted in many areas which were previously open water becoming
choked with vegetation, and Willow/Alder/Birch scrub encroaching on drier areas.
Pools cleared of choking
vegetation
The withdrawal of active land management by the local community and subsequent
deterioration in site condition led Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) to
begin purchasing plots of land.
Management objectives
The paradox for Montiaghs Moss is that what emerged in the place of the former
raised bog was a wonderful mosaic of pools, fen, mire, grassland and scrub, but
the human activities responsible for the original loss of habitat, and subsequent
creation of such rich biodiversity, are now in decline. The challenge for NIEA is to
maintain the current conservation interest and establish the necessary equilibrium
to maintain designation features, such as Marsh Fritillary Euphydryas aurinia, other
notable invertebrates and fen vegetation in the most cost effective way possible.
Management rationale
It is unknown if the site could ever revert back to lowland raised bog. Left
unmanaged it is likely to become dominated by woodland. The moss supports a
number of notable plant species and is especially noted for its invertebrate fauna.
Water levels on Lough Neagh, and therefore by default on the Montiaghs Moss, are
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