A peat bog is waterlogged ground where dead plant matter never fully breaks down. Think of it as a slow archive: once moss falls below the water table, decay stalls and the carbon stays put.

Because the water keeps oxygen out, a metre of peat can hold roughly nine centuries of growth. Drain it and that store begins to oxidise, releasing carbon that took generations to lock away.

Restoration work usually starts by blocking old drainage ditches so the water table rises back toward the surface, then reseeding sphagnum across the bare hags.