Black Bog ASSI

Black Bog is now thought to be the largest remaining area of undamaged lowland raised bog in Northern Ireland.
The site is especially important for its extensive hummock-hollow complex, high cover of Sphagnum species, and largely intact lagg.
In the past Black Bog has suffered from relatively little burning, and there are consequently some very large Sphagnum hummocks including Sphagnum imbricatum and Sphagnum fuscum.
Indeed, Sphagnum fuscum is probably more abundant here than on any other raised bog in Northern Ireland.
Another feature of the bog surface is the occurrence of an unusual plant-community with locally high cover of common crowberry and large hummocks of the lichen Cladonia impexa. This vegetation type is thought to be particularly characteristic of bogs, and is better developed here than on any other site in the Province.

Since notification, another unusual community has been located that is associated with seepage lines in the centre of the bog. This community is dominated by the mosses  Sphagnum recurvum, Sphagnum palustre and Polytrichum alpestre, together with stands of soft rush.

Site Related Documents

Site map (.PDF 812 Kb), Citation document (.PDF 54Kb) and Views about Management document (.PDF 52Kb).