We have no prairies
To slice a big sun at evening–
Everywhere the eye concedes to
Encrouching horizon,
Is wooed into the cyclops’ eye
Of a tarn. Our unfenced country
Is bog that keeps crusting
Between the sights of the sun
“Bogland” by Seamus Heaney
A fascinating exhibition called BogSkin has just finished in the RHA (Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts) in Dublin celebrating the long relationship between the Irish people and their changing perceptions of the many bogs in Ireland.
The exhibition looked at our changing perceptions of the bogs: as a source of fuel, as Romantic and mysterious, as a damaged and unique form of our environment, as a source of scientific knowledge about sensitive ecosystems, and as potential for recovery in the future.
The bog(n.) [“wet, soft, spongy ground with soil chiefly composed of decaying vegetable matter,” c. 1500, from Gaelic ] in Dublin slang means the W.C. but in general has been a source of fuel for centuries as locals with Turbary rights, that is, the legal entitlement to cut and collect turf or peat from a specific area of bogland for personal use, primarily as fuel. The bog is cut from banks with a slane or sleán and dried in footings whereby the long pieces of wet turf are leaned up against each other to dry out for winter fuel.
This tradition can be seen clearly in Amelia Stein’s four black and white photographs from 2015.
Amelia Stein’s four black and white photographs: Turf Drying, Turf Bags, Kilgalligan, Cut Turf, Portacloy.
Bogs are a relatively unique heritage of Ireland in Europe now, as so much bogland was destroyed in other countries. Their accompanying ecosystems have fallen under the state protection of the EU Habitats Directive which “aims to protect over a thousand species, including mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish invertebrates, and plants, and 230 characteristic habitat types.
The overall objective is to ensure that these species and habitat types are maintained, or restored, to a favourable conservation status within the EU.”
Unfortunately it is believed that just 1% of Ireland’s active raised bogs are left now after centuries of turf cutting. The bogs are mainly found “in the midlands and it is estimated they once covered almost a million acres of land.”
Last year (2024) the Irish state was criticised by the European Commission over its failure to protect the bogs and is facing legal action. Stopping the turf cutting is a sensitive issue for local politicians who are facing the wrath of the locals for ending their Turbary rights and source of free winter fuel despite the National Parks and Wildlife Service compensating “land owners and turbary right holders affected by the restriction on turf cutting on 36 raised bog Natural Heritage Areas (NHAs).”
The cutting has had other benefits over the years. Many artefacts in the National Museums that have been found in the bogs were dumped, hidden, or buried. For example:
The anaerobic environment and presence of tannic acids within bogs can result in the remarkable preservation of organic material. Finds of such material have been made in Slovenia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Some bogs have preserved bog-wood, such as ancient oak logs useful in dendrochronology. They have yielded extremely well-preserved bog bodies, with hair, organs, and skin intact, buried there thousands of years ago after apparent Germanic and Celtic human sacrifice.
The bogs have yielded up a variety of artefacts such as the Faddan More Psalter (circa AD 800), Coggalbeg hoard (two gold (sun) discs and a gold lunula (crescent-shaped collar)) dating to the Early Bronze Age, the eight century Derrynaflan hoard (ornate chalice, silver paten, and a liturgical strainer), etc.
The mythological aspect of such old finds is represented, for example, in Barrie Cooke’s, Megaceros Hibernicus, (1983), the ancient elk bones and mysterious shapes that stand for the yet undiscovered. Maybe it also represents an anxiety about our rapid destruction of the bogs both locally and nationally.
Barrie Cooke, Megaceros Hibernicus
Veronica Bolay, Time Stole Away
Hughie O’Donoghue, The LeaveTaking
This anxiety relates to the mechanised, industrialised aspect of turf-cutting. Bord na Móna (The Peat Board) a semi-state company in Ireland, was created in 1946 by the Turf Development Act 1946. The company began developing the peatlands by the mechanised harvesting of peat, which took place primarily in the Midlands of Ireland. However in 2015, Bord na Móna announced that the harvesting of peat for power generation was to be “phased out” by 2030, and replaced with “renewable energy development, domestic fuels, biomass development, waste recovery, horticulture, eco-tourism, and community amenities.”
Shane Hynan, Derrinlough Briquette Factory
Shane Hynans, Recently Rehabilitated Esker Bog with Mount Lucas Wind Farm in the Distance
This changing attitude by the state towards the bogs can also be seen in the later artworks that emphasize scientific exploration of the bogs in terms of their ecosystems, flora, and geology.
Fiona Mc Donald, We Share the Same Air
Tina Claffey, Feathery Bog Moss (Sphagnum cuspidatum)
Nigel Rolfe’s Into the Mire demonstrates the physicality of the bog, its muddy, rich texture, and our temporary existence compared to the thousands of years of dead nature soaked up under its living green cover.
Nigel Rolfe, Into the Mire
The reclamation of the bogs in Ireland is an unacceptable level of rapid change for some as pressure comes on the state from below as well as from above (the EU). However, any movement these days away from the destruction of nature is rapidly rewarded. In the last few years Common Cranes have been seen nesting on a rewetted bog for the first time in 300 years. According to Mark McCorry, Lead Ecologist at Bord na Móna:
Pairs of Common Cranes usually take several years to successfully fledge chicks. This is why this sighting is particularly significant. Not only are we actually seeing these birds nesting in Ireland for the first time in 300 years, but we are very optimistic that this third attempt may yield the first crane born here in centuries.
The demise of these large birds is attributed to their being hunted by people and foxes alike for food, and the draining of the bogs over the centuries.
Common Cranes in a rewetted bog
The necessity for a changing attitude towards nature is made clear by the levels of Ireland’s deforestation and is symbolised by the regular finding of dead tree stumps in the bogs. It is believed that just 10% of Ireland is under forest cover and that just 1% of that is made-up of native Irish trees. According to Global Forest Watch: “From 2001 to 2023, Ireland lost 154 kha of tree cover, equivalent to a 18% decrease in tree cover since 2000.” Therefore the efforts of the state seem to be lacking in both reclamation of the bogs and afforestation of the countryside. A strange situation considering Ireland’s green image. The lackadaisical attitude of the Irish government on these issues has provoked a frustrated European Commission to take action:
While the European Commission noted that some restoration work has been undertaken on raised bog sites, it said no action has been taken “regarding blanket bog sites where Ireland has failed to put in place an effective regulatory regime to protect these unique bog sites”. As a result, the Commission sent an additional “reasoned opinion” to Ireland September 2022. A reasoned opinion outlines why the Commission considers a country is breaching EU law and requests that the country informs the Commission of the measures taken to rectify the issue. The Commission today said that it doesn’t deem Irish efforts to date to be sufficient and is therefore referring Ireland to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Taking strong action on issues of reclamation and afforestation will have many benefits in the future in the same way that whale-watching has had many benefits over whale-killing. Trees and wetlands are a perfect combination for the growth of ecosystems. By providing shelter and water we will create the best environment for natural complexity, from the most basic plant life to the renewed prevalence of birds of prey that were hunted out of existence in the last century.
Photos by Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin unless otherwise linked.
The post Getting Bogged Down: The State and the Natural Environment in Art first appeared on Dissident Voice.
This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Caoimhghin O Croidheain.