25 years of RSPB Scotland in the Flow Country

Hilary Wilson, Community Engagement Officer at Forsinard Flows, tells us a little bit about the dwarf birch, which is represented on the special pin badge celebrating 25 years of RSPB Scotland in the Flow Country.

25 years of RSPB Scotland in the Flow Country

Somewhere in the far distant lands of the Flow Country, located in the very far north of Scotland, something new is stirring! In this remote landscape, boasting the largest expanse of blanket bog in the world, where deep peat stores vast quantities of carbon and sphagnum lies like a multicoloured wet blanket over the surface there is a little, lesser known peatland plant that will be pushing its way into the limelight in 2020.

2020 is a significant year for RSPB Forsinard Flows as it marks 25 years of the RSPB in the Flow Country restoring damaged peatland and working for nature on a massive scale to preserve this internationally significant landscape and its wildlife for future generations. We wanted to do something special and significant to celebrate this special year, so a plan was hatched!

The dwarf birch (Betula nana) is a very attractive little peatland shrub and was chosen as the subject for a brand new, limited edition pin badge to celebrate our 25^th anniversary. The badge is a life-sized leaf of this nationally rare plant and we think it is pretty special!

The limited edition dwarf birch pin badge is now available. Image Credit: Hilary Wilson.

This pin badge is also special for another reason; money raised through donations for it will be put into a fund for helping schools of Caithness and Sutherland access their local landscape. Transport costs can be very prohibitive for local schools as travel distances in this area are often long. The money raised will help cover these costs, and so help young people of the area experience the wonders of the Flow Country.

The badge will be exclusively available from outlets in and around the Flow Country throughout 2020 and when ordering the Secret Garden’s Wild Gin online, please contact Claire Foot-Turner at RSPB Forsinard if you would like further details. claire.foot@rspb.org.uk.

Left: Dwarf birch at Forsinard, Image Credit: John Wright. Right: Autumnal dwarf birch at Forsinard. Credit: Hilary Wilson.

A little bit about the dwarf birch...

For those of you unfamiliar with this rather amazing little plant here are some facts to fill your wellie boots with:

• The dwarf birch grows exclusively on blanket bog in Scotland, no surprise then that it likes the Flow Country!
• It likes a nutrient poor, wet and cold environment
• It is deciduous so changes colour in the autumn to an array of pinks and oranges and then loses its leaves
• Deer and sheep like to eat it so although it can grow up to 1 metre in height it rarely reaches that stature in the UK and is usually no more than 30cm tall.
• Its leaves are rounded and only grow to about 2cm in diameter.
• You will find it growing alongside more familiar peatland plants like sphagnums, feather moss and heathers and it is an important member of the montane plant community (source: Treesforlife.org.uk)
• Leaves from dwarf birch plants in the Flow Country were used as one of the botanicals in the Secret Garden’s Wild Gin and, as a result, the pin badge will be making an appearance at the gin’s Harrods launch in March.

Botanicals collected and inspired by the Flow Country are in the Secret Garden’s Wild Gin and include dwarf birch. The RSPB will be gifted 20% of all sales from this gin.