Good morning all. Discussions of Irish bogs is in line with my second interest, History of Ireland. The bogs as we know them emerged from the last ice age as Eskers. You can see the extent 10,000 years ago of the Eskers on the Irish landscape on this map. http://www.rootsweb.com/~irluie2/history/oldulster.htm I hope you all enjoy the view. Don Kelly ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ray Marshall" <raymarsh@mninter.net> To: "Fintan Sheehan" <fintansheehan@yahoo.ie> Cc: "Kerry List" <IRL-Kerry@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 6:47 AM Subject: Re: [IRL-KERRY] FW: Something for you Kerry Bog-Trotters! > Thanks, Fintan > > Isn't it wonderful how those folks in Brussels and Strassburg learned so > quickly that they know better than anyone what is needed and wanted > everywhere? > > Soon they will be spending millions (of other people's money) establishing > turf cutting demonstrations so folk will be able to learn how it was done > in > the "olden days." > > Our equivalent geniuses live in New York City and Washington, D.C. > > > Ray > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Fintan Sheehan [mailto:fintansheehan@yahoo.ie] > Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 3:56 AM > To: Ray Marshall; Kerry List > Subject: Re: [IRL-KERRY] FW: Something for you Kerry Bog-Trotters! > > Hi, > turf cutting in many area has stopped due to EU-directive I think. We used > to cut turf every year in Glencar but was phased out in late 1990s to > ensure > preservation of blanket bogs and habitats. > > Regards, > Fintan http://www.myirishancestry.com > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Ray Marshall <raymarsh@mninter.net> > To: Kerry List <IRL-Kerry@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Thursday, 31 May, 2007 9:08:48 PM > Subject: [IRL-KERRY] FW: Something for you Kerry Bog-Trotters! > > > ------------------------------ > > Date: Thu, 31 May 2007 12:08:55 -0700 > From: "Jean R." <jeanrice@cet.com> > Subject: [IRELAND] The Irish Boglands - Habitat Rich in Plant Life, > Birds, Insects, Creatures, Peat, Preserved History > To: <IRELAND-L@rootsweb.com> > > > SNIPPET: There is something timeless about the Irish boglands with their > wide landscapes of soft brown, stretching into the foothills of the > distant > blue mountains, broken only by occasional small figures stooping to a > cutting or piling sods into a neat rick. Visitors encountering them for > the > first time gaze at the heather and bog cotton blowing in the breeze, watch > a > hare leaping lightly, hear the cry of a curlew and breath in the scent of > the sharp peaty soil. Small wonder that artists and writers have > immortalised the boglands of Ireland, from the paintings of Jack YEATS and > Paul HENRY, to the poetry of Seamus HEANEY and the nostalgic images of a > writer for children, Patricia LYNCH. > > Many birds make the bog their home, and the plaintive cry of the curlew, > lapwing or redshank overhead is characteristic of spring or autumn, while > the joyous song of the skylark and echoing call of the cuckoo is found in > summer. The old country name for the grey heron is Molly-the-bogs. The > brown > or Irish hare is part of this kingdom, as is the cautious red fox, shy > rabbit and tiny bank vole. Butterflies, damselflies and dragonflies are > plentiful in summer, when the bog spider spins his web to catch the > unwary. > > The Irish boglands are rich in plant life and at most times of the year > you > can see a range of flowers, heathers, grasses and shrubs which are only > happy in this special habitat. One of the most unusual is the butterwort > with a tall, brilliant blue flower. Its hairy basal leaves are slightly > sticky and trap insects so that the edges of the leaf can then roll over > the > digest their prize. The golden-red sundew captures prey in the same > manner. > Orchids, too, enjoy the acid soil, while yellow iris paints bright patches > of colour. Cross-leaved and St. Dabeoc's Heath grow in sturdy clumps. You > will have to stoop very close to the ground to see the tiny blue flowers > of > milkwort, marsh violet or speedwell. The fragile ecosystem includes > bogbean, > bog asphodel, bog rosemary and bog myrtle. The latter is an insignificant > little waterside shrub, but once you crush a leaf and get the spicy scent, > you realise why it gained its alternative name of sweet gale. Folks of old > used bunches of bog myrtle to discourage moths and other pests from their > linen cupboards, just as they gathered bilberries and cranberries from the > low-growing bushes for their food and lichens from the rocks to dye their > cloth. > > Turf-cutting is big in Kerry. The drying black stooks of turf stand in the > summer bogs among the yellow flat irises, the white bog cotton and the > deep > and bronze pools. However, to strip the bogs seems a pity. It takes a > million years to make a bog and its unique flora, once gone, is > irreplaceable. > > Bogs are estimated to have covered up to 3 million acres, or approximately > one-seventh of Ireland's land area in the past. They have acted, > variously, > as a major constraint on the human exploitation of the Irish environment > during later prehistoric and early historic times and in more recent > centuries, as a reservoir of colonizable land and as a source of fuel. > Only > with the rise in population since the early modern period, and > improvements > in drainage, have bogs come to be regarded as land to be reclaimed rather > than wasteland to be avoided. Many unusual and interesting objects from > the > bronze age, etc., have been found preserved in the bogs, as well as human > remains. In one of HEANEY's poems about the bog, "Strange Fruit," are > found > these lines: "Here is the girl's head like an exhumed gourd/Oval-faced, > prune-skinned, prune-stones for teeth/They unswaddled the wet fern of her > hair/And made an exhibition of its coil/Let the air at her leathery > beauty/Pash of tallow, perishable treasure/Her broken nose is dark as a > turf > clod/Her eyeholes blank as pools... Murdered, forgotten, nameless ...." > > The Jan-Feb 2002 issue of "Ireland of the Welcomes" magazine, published in > Dublin, featured a several-page story on the boglands with colorful > photographs to include: A donkey-cart in Co. Mayo; a hen harrier in > flight; > delicate wisps of bog cotton; exposed stone walls of Ceide Fields, near > Ballycastle, Co. Mayo, which have disclosed ancient farming methods; > blanket > bog near Ballyhoura, Co. Limerick; Nad Bog in Cork with recent snow-fall; > commercial turf-cutting machines in the boglands of Co. Offaly; a delicate > glimmer of turquoise, a damselfly on a blade of grass; a perfectly > camouflaged snipe with long beak treading carefully through the > undergrowth; > a red grouse against a background of heather and scrubland; a smiling > woman > with her traditional bastable pot making delicious soda bread, hot turf > ash > piled on top of bastable which hangs over a turf fire; a kestrel seeking > prey swooping across the land; gnarled stumps of bog oak exposed over the > years near Ireland's highest mountain, Carrauntoohill, Co. Kerry; gorgeous > red and black peacock butterfly on the stalk of a purple-blue scabious; a > curlew making a comeback after being threatened with extinction because of > changing farm practices; a little creature called a bank vole; the > Clonmacnoise and West Offaly Railway, with local guides showing visitors > how > to try their hand at turf-cutting in the traditional way; bushy bog > myrtle; > the vast brown expanse of commercial bogland in the midlands punctuated by > yellow gorse bushes; a common lizard soaks up sunshine while stretched out > on a warm rock amongst purple flowers; a close-up of a bog spider spinning > an intricate and strong web. Speaking of gorse bushes - I recall reading > that the colorful little stone-chat bird can be found throughout Ireland, > especially on golden gorse bushes (perhaps also in the bogland?), its name > derived from its distinctive call which is reminiscent of two stones being > rubbed together. > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IRL-KERRY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________ > New Yahoo! Mail is the ultimate force in competitive emailing. Find out > more > at the Yahoo! Mail Championships. 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