So parked  at this bridge over the Grand Canal out side the town of Daingean, Co. Offaly. With a short climb up onto the bridge by a steep bank. There you will find part of a rail system that transports the peat that’s removed across the bog.

The stripped Bogs of the Irish Midlands

Peat bogs take thousands of years to form,  Dozens of plants and animals, uniquely adapted to life in peat bogs, are found nowhere else and with the bogs disappearing fast so is this unique habitat. European and Irish law stopped people from cutting turf for there own use has a heat source. Something they have done for hundreds of years, Some still cut and dry the turf defying the law.  These bogs are stripped to supply the West Offaly Power Station while people are banned from cutting there own turf.

A peat bog that’s been striped and mounds off peat awaiting transport.

The ground is drained and leveled, while other parts have become wind farms with public footpaths where nature reclaims it for its self and wildlife.

The turf being cut up with tractor machinery. Note the twin wheels front and rear to help spread its weight on the soft ground.

And the rail track continues for miles/km’s

Its not just the top they remove, the peat could be a couple of metre’s deep. That is a large tonnage that is stripped from the earth and burned to supply power every year. When it’s all gone where do the government and the power industry turn to next. Will it be shale gas, if so I hope the pain we do to this plant does not become our pain in return.

Thank You for Looking