View source for Flow Country

{{Short description|Region of peatland and wetland in the north of Scotland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2013}}
{{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
| WHS         = The Flow Country
| Image       = Wetland in the Flow Country, Scotland, UK - geograph.org.uk - 5668315.jpg
| Caption     = The Flow Country, Forsinard, Sutherland, looking towards the Ben Griams
| Location    = Scotland, United Kingdom
| Criteria    = Natural: ix
| ID          = 1722
| Year        = 2024
| Area = {{convert|187000|ha|acre|abbr=on}}
| Coordinates = {{coord| 58.4 | -3.7 | scale:250000_region:GB-HLD | display=inline,title}}
| locmapin    = Scotland
| Website     = 
}}

The '''Flow Country''' ({{langx|gd|Dùthaich nam Boglaichean}})<ref name=name>{{cite web|url=https://digital.nls.uk/pubs/e-monographs/2020/216588076.23.pdf |title=Gaelic and Norse in the Landscape: Placenames in Caithness and Sutherland |date=2010 |publisher=Scottish Natural Heritage |author=Roddy Maclean |pages=17-18}}</ref> is a vast area of [[bog]] [[peat]]land in [[Caithness]] and [[Sutherland]], northern [[Scotland]]. It is the largest [[blanket bog]] in Europe, and covers about {{convert|4000|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}. It is an area of deep [[peat]], dotted with bog pools, and is a very important habitat for wildlife. As peat is largely made up of the remains of plants, which are themselves made up of [[carbon]], it locks up large stores of carbon for thousands of years. This carbon would otherwise be released to the atmosphere and contribute to [[global warming]]. In 2024 the Flow Country was awarded [[World Heritage Site|World Heritage]] status by [[UNESCO]] on account of its unparalleled blanket bog habitat.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Flow Country |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1722 |website=UNESCO World Heritage Convention |publisher=UNESCO |access-date=28 July 2024}}</ref> It includes the [[Forsinard Flows National Nature Reserve]] and the [[Caithness and Sutherland Peatlands]].

== Wildlife ==
[[File:Golden Plover 01 (1407331389).jpg|thumb|Golden Plover, a typical Flow Country bird]]
[[File:Sutherland Flow Country.jpg|left|thumb|The Flow Country]]
The Flow Country is home to a rich variety of wildlife, and is used as a breeding ground for many different species of birds, including [[greenshank]], [[dunlin]], [[merlin (bird)|merlin]] and [[European golden plover|golden plover]]. Birds of prey found in the Flow Country include the [[Common buzzard|buzzard]] and [[hen harrier]].

One of the most prevalent plant species of the Flow Country is [[Sphagnum|sphagnum moss]], which can store large amounts of water, and eventually form [[peat]] – the building block of a blanket bog. Carnivorous plants such as [[Drosera rotundifolia|roundleaved sundew]], [[Drosera anglica|greater sundew]], and [[Pinguicula vulgaris|butterwort]] feed on the multitude of insects that inhabit the Flow Country.

Large mammals such as [[red deer]], and the less common [[roe deer]], roam the Flow Country all year round and can be heard roaring during the autumn rutting season.

== Geology ==
The principal geological deposit within the area is of course peat but other [[Quaternary]] superficial deposits are recorded, principally those associated with the ice age such as [[till]] but also post-glacial [[alluvium]]. All of these overlie bedrock which originates during four distinct intervals of geological time; the [[Archean|Archaean]] to [[Palaeoproterozoic]] [[Lewisian gneiss]], the [[Neoproterozoic]] [[Moinian|Moine succession]] into which [[Ordovician]] to [[Silurian]] [[granite]] is intruded and the largely [[Devonian]] age [[Old Red Sandstone]].<ref>{{cite web |title=GeoIndex Onshore |url=https://mapapps2.bgs.ac.uk/geoindex/home.html |publisher=British Geological Survey |access-date=4 August 2024}}</ref>

== History ==

[[File:Forestry - geograph.org.uk - 427972.jpg|thumb|Cleared forestry; part of the habitat restoration in the Flow Country]]

"Flow" is a Scots word for a bog or morass, possibly derived from [[Old Norse]] (compare the [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] word ''flói'', which has the same meaning).<ref>{{Cite OED|flow|9565044781}}</ref> The bogs of the Flow Country have been subject to human activity since the end of the last ice age. In the last 200 years, they have been affected by human activity, including sheep grazing and forestry.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Flow Country - UNESCO World Heritage Centre |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5679/}}</ref>

In the 1970s and 1980s, government tax breaks incentivised commercial forestry operations which drained areas of the bogs and planted non-native conifers, damaging the bogs and causing loss of some of the peatland.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Restoring the Flows - The Flow Country |url=https://www.theflowcountry.org.uk/flow-facts/flow-fact-4/}}</ref> In 1987 the [[Nature Conservancy Council]] (NCC) released a report in London that was highly critical of the foresters.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} In 1988 [[Nigel Lawson]], the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], scrapped the forestry tax reliefs in light of the harm caused to the United Kingdom's wilderness, halting further planting.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

== Ongoing conservation ==
[[File:Flow country - geograph.org.uk - 124799.jpg|left|thumb|RSPB Forsinard Flows National Nature Reserve, Sutherland]]
In an effort to restore the damage, the [[Royal Society for the Protection of Birds]] (RSPB) have bought a large area in the centre of the Flow Country and have created the [[Forsinard Flows National Nature Reserve|Forsinard Flows national nature reserve]].<ref name="nnr">{{cite web|url=https://sitelink.nature.scot/site/10526|title=Forsinard Flows National Nature Reserve|publisher=Scottish Natural Heritage|accessdate=2019-01-29}}</ref> More than 20&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> has been bought back from Fountain Forestry and the young trees felled and allowed to rot in the plough furrow in the hope and expectation that, in 30 to 100 years, the land will revert to peat bog.

The RSPB was also a leading partner in the Flows to the Future Project,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theflowcountry.org.uk/flows-to-the-future/|title=Flows to the Future Project|website=The Flow Country}}</ref> an ambitious, far-reaching project which aimed to restore vast areas of the Flow Country and increase public and visitor awareness of the importance of the Flow Country. The project funded the award-winning<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theflowcountry.org.uk/news/flows-lookout/|title=Awards Success for Flows Lookout|website=The Flow Country}}</ref> Flows Lookout Tower.

Around 1500&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> of the Flow Country is protected as both a [[Special Protection Area]] and [[Special Area of Conservation]] under the name [[Caithness and Sutherland Peatlands]].<ref name=spa>{{cite web|url=https://sitelink.nature.scot/site/8476|title=Caithness and Sutherland Peatlands SPA|publisher=Scottish Natural Heritage|accessdate=2019-01-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://sitelink.nature.scot/site/8218|title=Caithness and Sutherland Peatlands SAC|publisher=Scottish Natural Heritage|accessdate=2019-01-30}}</ref>

The Flow Country was designated a UNESCO [[World Heritage Site]] in 2024. It is one of three World Heritage natural landscapes in the United Kingdom. The others are the [[Giants Causeway]] in County Antrim and the [[Jurassic Coast]] in Dorset.<ref name=WH>{{cite web |last1=Rowlatt |first1=Justin |title=Scottish bog gets world heritage status |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv2gz1p2v12o |website=BBC News |access-date=26 July 2024}}</ref>

==Rail access==
The [[Far North Line]] connects into [[Forsinard railway station|Forsinard station]] serving the area.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.theflowcountry.org.uk The Flow Country website]
*[https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/forsinard-flows/ RSPB Forsinard Flows Reserve]
*[http://www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/campaigns/flowcountry/index.aspx RSPB Flow Country Appeal]
*[http://www.snh.gov.uk/about-scotlands-nature/habitats-and-ecosystems/mountains-heaths-and-bogs/peat-bogs/ Peat bogs on SNH]

{{World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom}}

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{{National Nature Reserves of Scotland}}
{{RSPB sites in Scotland}}

[[Category:Wetlands of Scotland]]
[[Category:Caithness]]
[[Category:Landforms of Sutherland]]
[[Category:Rural Scotland]]
[[Category:Protected areas of Highland (council area)]]
[[Category:Landforms of Highland (council area)]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in Scotland]]
[[Category:Ramsar sites in Scotland]]
[[Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Scotland]]