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Cors Caron in July, Ceredigion

This is a telephoto assisted image across the bog taken from the boardwalk. By the tall tree on the right is the footbridge across the Afon Teifi. The river, which meanders from right to left through the bog, can be seen beyond the dead birch tree, about three hundred metres from the camera.

The excellent board-walk allows access well into the bog with many good places to stop and observe the wildlife and vegetation of this site. Cors Caron is a raised bog system covering more than 800 acres (325 hectares). It is 6km in length and provides a habitat for a wide range of wildlife and plants. The bog itself was formed 12,000 years ago when the last of the Ice Age glaciers melted away. A large shallow lake was left, which very gradually filled with sediments and vegetation, forming peat and later, acid peat.

For centuries, local people would go and cut this peat from the bog to burn on the hearth, resulting in shallow pools similar to these. In 1955, Cors Caron was declared a National Nature Reserve in order to preserve this increasingly scarce land form. In 1993, Cors Caron was placed on a list of wetland sites of international importance under the terms of the Ramser Convention. The bog is now managed by the Countryside Council for Wales.

There are places where birch and willow trees are becoming established, especially near where peat was formerly dug. Although such small areas of scrub are good for wildlife, the spread of such areas is controlled to prevent the wetland drying out and the land becoming woodland.

SN6862 : View of Cors Caron - Tregaron Bog

There are several good websites to see, this one being concise but informative: Link

Wikipedia is very comprehensive on the subject: Link