I know it is a bit of an obsession but it is that time of month where it is time to read the rain gauge. A raised bog is raised, that is it is a dome of peat that lies at a higher level that the surrounding land so as water doesn't flow up hill the only source of water for the moss is from above. So if you are charged to keep a bog wet or get it even wetter then you want to know how much help you are getting from above. But reading the rain gauge this time is a bit more of a challenge. For a start the landrover has to be left way back down the track due to the 6" of snow lying everywhere. The hike out though hard work is fabulous, I can look up and see a backdrop of stunning snow clad mountains gleaming on the highland edge. Deer and hare footprints flit across the fields and a small flock of yellowhammers are scrabbling around on a line of round bales looking for seeds. Once out on the moss the whole surface was smooth lumps and white. Underneath wasn't completely frozen so every so often a foot breaks into peaty water. And then the next challenge, spot the rain gauge. The foot high cylinder had totally disappeared and it was only because i knew roughly where it lay that I was able to spot the hole in the top, level with the top of the snow. I dug it out and the insulating effect of the sphagnum meant that the water wasn't frozen. A months rainfall was quickly measured before it froze and it showed just how wet the month of November had been, - 167.8 mm made for quite a wet month and it would have gone a fair way to replenish the peat sponge that is the bog. Another wet month and the yearly average won't be far of average.
