St Brigid’s Primary School have a ‘Bog Day Out’ at An Creagán Bog Nature Reserve

An Creagán, which engages the community in peatland restoration projects in the Sperrins area and has been a leader in environmental action and community well-being since it was established 30 years ago, welcomed pupils from St Brigid’s Primary School, Mountfield to the centre on an educational visit at the end of June.

The children of primary 3/4 and their teachers were the lucky winners of the trip to the centre, when they took part in An Creagán’s competition asking entrants to guess the depth of the peat on An Creagán Bog. Their teacher, Miss Garry submitted an entry for the class with guesses from all the children and class member Annie Mullin’s guess was closest winning them the trip.

An Creagán’s new Peatland Officer Micheál Scullion welcomed the children in the centres Education suite and gave a presentation on peatland with lots of information and fun facts for the inquisitive young minds.

The children were introduced to bog specialist plants including the insect eating Sundew and told all about the climate benefits, biodiversity and ecosystem services of peatland as well as the many other wonderful benefits it offers.

The children then made their way to the nature reserve where they spent time pond dipping for insects and completed a scavenger hunt on the 1km boardwalk on An Creagán Bog, filling a wonderful morning immersed in nature.

The group were then treated to lunch in the ‘White Hare’ restaurant at An Creagán as part of their prize, before boarding the bus back to school.

Each child took home an Oak sapling gifted to them by Padraig Donovan from his native tree nursery on the An Creagán site, for them to plant in a special location at home. The children were told of the importance of native trees in our landscape and planting them in the right place.

An Creagán have recently formed a partnership with Ulster Wildlife to restore peatland throughout The Sperrins and will be offering educational and informative visits to schools, community groups and the wider public beginning with an event on ‘International Bog Day’ (28th of July).

More details on the upcoming events will be posted on our social media pages. Seach An Creagán and Peatland Officer An Creagán on Facebook and Instagram.

For more information on this story or peatland restoration in general, please contact Peatland Officer Micheál Scullion at email [email protected] or by mobile 077 540 81877.