Changes

[[Image:Chartley Moss.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Chartley Moss, with some of the tops of the dead trees visible protruding through the peat]]

[[Image:Chartley Moss.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Chartley Moss, with some of the tops of the dead trees visible protruding through the peat]]

'''Chartley Moss National Nature Reserve''' is one of [[England|England's]] largest floating [[mire|bog]]s with a raft of [[peat]] up to 10-foot thick floating on a 40-foot deep [[lake]]. [[Tree]]s growing in the peat raft eventually sink through the surface under their own weight and drown as they mature. This leaves the dead trunks protruding half out of the moss. The site is of international importance and can only be visited with a permit or a guide as the area is very dangerous. Located between Stafford and Uttoxeter in [[Staffordshire]], it is privately owned but [[lease]]d to [[English Nature]], and is also classified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

'''Chartley Moss National Nature Reserve''' is one of [[England|England's]] largest floating [[mire|bog]]s with a raft of [[peat]] up to 10-foot thick floating on a 40-foot deep [[lake]]. [[Tree]]s growing in the peat raft eventually sink through the surface under their own weight and drown as they mature. This leaves the dead trunks protruding half out of the moss. The site is of international importance and can only be visited with a permit or a guide as the bog is in a state of continual change and the surface is extremely dangerous. Located between Stafford and Uttoxeter in [[Staffordshire]], it is privately owned but [[lease]]d to [[English Nature]], and is also classified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

==Formation==

==Formation==

*several species of Sphagnum

*several species of Sphagnum

The surrounding woodland consists of Rowan, Holly, Alder Buckthorn (which supports a large Brimstone butterfly population), Silver Birch, Hairy Birch and Scots Pine (believed to have been planted in the nineteenth century as a timber crop). The insect groups present contain many uncommon species, including 22 species of [[dragonfly]], and several species of rare [[beetle]] which prefer the upright dead trees to fallen dead trees.

The surrounding woodland consists of Rowan, Holly, Alder Buckthorn (which supports a large Brimstone [[butterfly]] population), Silver Birch, Hairy Birch and Scots Pine (believed to have been planted in the nineteenth century as a timber crop). The insect groups present contain many uncommon species, including 22 species of [[dragonfly]], and several species of rare [[beetle]] which prefer the upright dead trees to fallen dead trees.

==External links==

==External links==