Happy April Fool’s Day! We’ve been inspired by BBC Radio 1’s game of ‘wrong uns’ to play our own spin on the game, with all peatland inspired questions.
In the game, the host asks rapid fire questions that must be answered wrongly. Both Jayne (Peatland Connections) and Emily (General Manager) took part with the same questions – how do you think they did?
To keep us right, here are the questions (and correct answers):
Q1: How deep is deep peat?
Deep peat is classified in Scotland (by the government and Peatland ACTION) as being 0.5m deep.
Q2: What is a peat pipe?
An underground channel often found in degraded peat. Water flows through these pipes and can cause further erosion/degradation.
Q3: What is sphagnum?
Sphagnum is a group (or genus) of mosses which often carpet the ground of healthy peatland.
Q4: What is peat made of?
“Peat is the surface organic layer of a soil that consists of partially decomposed organic matter, derived mostly from plant material, which has accumulated under conditions of waterlogging, oxygen deficiency, high acidity and nutrient deficiency.” – International Peatland Society.
Q5: What colour is peat?
Peat is often a deep brown colour, but can have many different shades of brown, grey, and similar colours.
Q6: How much peat is in Scotland?
Scotland’s peat soils cover more than 20 % of the country and store around 1600 million tonnes of carbon – Scottish government.
Q7: What animal would you find on a Scottish peatland?
Certainly no elephants or antelopes – you’re more likely to find birds of prey like the hen harrier, plants like sphagnum or sundew, and other animals such as the golden plover.
Q8: Give me a peatland fact!
There are too many correct facts to list! Here is one – peatlands are really, really important in tackling climate change. Find out more about that in our blog here.
Q9: What is a peat core?
A peat core is a cylindrical sample of peat, used to study many things such as the history of the land, the different species of plants making up the peat, previous climates, and so on.
Q10: What do you think about peat?
We think it’s really awesome!