A dozen students from Oatridge have been literally up to their armpits in a campaign to save a prime example of one of Europe’s rarest wildlife habitats.

The members of the group are studying for a Higher National Diploma in Countryside Management and have been working to conserve an area of raised bog, near the site of Low Moss prison at Bishopbriggs in East Dunbartonshire.

Their main tasks have involved clearing silver birch trees which have colonised the area and are sucking water out of the bog, and building a series of dams which will retain water and prevent the bog drying out…though there may have seemed unlikely when Megan Robertson (24), from Slateford in Edinburgh, waded in to help with the construction.

Raised bogs have been disappearing at an alarming rate, due to the extraction of peat for burning and more recently, for using the peat to make garden compost. There are real fears that further destruction will lead to the release into the atmosphere of millions of tons of carbon dioxide which is trapped in the bogs, adding to the dangers of global warming.

Environment lecturer John McGregor says: “Raised bogs not only hold carbon dioxide which has been locked up over millions of years, but provide a habitat for a diverse range of rare flora and fauna.

“The students have been clearing the trees which are threatening the very existence of the raised bog and using the felled timber to construct dams to retain water, vital to its conservation. They drive two parallel rows of logs into the ditch and then fill the gap with soil and stones, finally adding a layer of vegetation taken from the bog to create a natural-looking footpath. It is very hard, but important work.”

Working with Megan have been Simon Bowers, Eric Cheung, Claire Fallen, Steven Hay, Katie Holiday, Gordon Howarth, Alan Monk, Sarah Rauch Lynch, Graham Roy, James Sowden and Ross Williamson.