Sphagnum balticum Baltic Bog-moss

Sphagnum balticum
©Fred Rumsey

This attractive moss can be difficult to spot, since it resembles and sometimes grows together with the commoner moss Sphagnum recurvum.

It grows in lowland peaty bogs and is now restricted to two sites in Britain - one in Northumberland and the other in Perthshire, Scotland. Sites have been lost in the past due to peat extraction and afforestation.

The most important current threats are probably nutrient enrichment and climate warming.

It is protected by Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981