What do you think?
Rate this book
The Book of Bogs: Stories from a Yorkshire Moor and Other Peatlands
Although 80 per cent of Britain’s bogs and peatlands have been drained, stripped or irreversibly damaged over the last 200 years, they still contain more carbon than all the forests in UK, France and Germany combined. Often viewed as wasteland, these landscapes are brimming with biodiversity and play an essential role in how we mitigate the extremes of climate change. Walshaw Moor in West Yorkshire is one such place.
Renowned for its blanket peat bog, Walshaw Moor is a breeding habitat for endangered ground-nesting birds, such as curlews, lapwings and golden plovers. It is also the inspiration for Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and the poetry of Ted Hughes, and is much-loved for its network of footpaths threading into the Upper Calder Valley and the South Pennines. In recent years, however, the future of Walshaw Moor has been threatened by a proposal to build England’s largest onshore wind farm.
The Book of Bogs began as a community response to this threat, and has grown beyond the Moor into a wider celebration and campaign for bogs and other peatland ecologies. With original poetry and essays from over 40 established authors and new voices, the collection combines natural history, archaeology, culture, myth and adventure, offering insight into why these landscapes are at the forefront of debates about energy and land use. The book delves into the boglands like never before, relishing in the sweep of heather, the glow of moss and the stillness of peat waters.
Renowned for its blanket peat bog, Walshaw Moor is a breeding habitat for endangered ground-nesting birds, such as curlews, lapwings and golden plovers. It is also the inspiration for Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and the poetry of Ted Hughes, and is much-loved for its network of footpaths threading into the Upper Calder Valley and the South Pennines. In recent years, however, the future of Walshaw Moor has been threatened by a proposal to build England’s largest onshore wind farm.
The Book of Bogs began as a community response to this threat, and has grown beyond the Moor into a wider celebration and campaign for bogs and other peatland ecologies. With original poetry and essays from over 40 established authors and new voices, the collection combines natural history, archaeology, culture, myth and adventure, offering insight into why these landscapes are at the forefront of debates about energy and land use. The book delves into the boglands like never before, relishing in the sweep of heather, the glow of moss and the stillness of peat waters.
- GenresNonfiction
345 pages, Paperback
Published September 15, 2025
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 26, 2025
Interesting look at all things peat, with an emphasis on Walshaw Moor in West Yorkshire.
The pieces in the book read as stand alone essays rather than smaller parts of a whole, and as a result there are rather too many repeated references - Wuthering Heights, both from Emily Bronte and Kate Bush, the way in which peat is formed, the role peat can play in carbon storage and the rate at which peat accumulates are all mentioned far more than once.
This is a small issue in an otherwise interesting book. SM
The pieces in the book read as stand alone essays rather than smaller parts of a whole, and as a result there are rather too many repeated references - Wuthering Heights, both from Emily Bronte and Kate Bush, the way in which peat is formed, the role peat can play in carbon storage and the rate at which peat accumulates are all mentioned far more than once.
This is a small issue in an otherwise interesting book. SM
Displaying 1 of 1 review