A team of volunteers fighting to preserve Scotland's wetland wildlife have been saved from extinction. 

Bog Squad, run by national charity Butterfly Conservation, has been granted £31,000 to keep protecting precious peatlands in the Central Belt between Glasgow and Edinburgh. 

The funds were awarded just before the Scottish Government announced a freeze on nature-restoration projects - with the cash diverted into funding council worker wage settlements. 

However, the cash only covers one year and the group fear they face an uncertain future.  

In the decade since they started, the volunteers have built 214 dams, cleared 464 hectares of invasive scrub and discovered two previously unknown colonies of the threatened Large Heath butterfly. 

Now they are looking at the feasibility of creating a bold new Scotland-wide citizen science initiative to make moss more mainstream - but Butterfly Conservation also needs to raise significant extra funds. 

The bog-loving Large Heath butterfly The bog-loving Large Heath butterfly (Image: Iain Leach)

Bog Squad leader at Butterfly Conservation Polly Phillpot said: "Peat bogs are one of the most magical, atmospheric places we have in Scotland, but they're a secret we want to share with everyone! 

“When you're stood there at dawn with the mist rising off the water it's like nowhere else, and the species we see are incredible - the huge Emperor moth with these big eye spots on its wings, the carnivorous Sundews that trap insects on their sticky red leaves and the Large Heath butterfly which you can only find in these peatlands." 

Bog Squad was launched by Butterfly Conservation in 2014 with funding from NatureScot's Peatland ACTION programme to restore bogs across the Central Belt. 

Peat bogs are defined by Sphagnum moss - a lush, bouncy and brightly-coloured carpet which provides a home to other bog species and which partially decays over thousands of years to form the precious peat that has been used for centuries as fuel and fertiliser. 

 Scotland’s peat bogs provide homes for bog specialists such as the Large Heath and other rare butterflies such as Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Green Hairstreak. Bog edges provide homes for rare moths such as the Argent & Sable, Lunar Hornet and Wood Tiger. 

 Many Scottish bogs are in a poor state, being overrun by non-native conifer trees such as Sitka spruce and Lodgepole pine that spread from commercial plantations. They are also damaged by drainage, used as dumps and stripped of peat and plants for garden use. 

This also threatens to exacerbate climate change as peat bogs are a world-renowned source of carbon capture. 

Wester Moss, Stirling, work party Wester Moss, Stirling, work party (Image: Polly Phillpot)

Ms Phillpot said: "We always say that the best bog is a wet bog: as long as they're waterlogged these peatlands store tonnes and tonnes of carbon, but as soon as they dry out, the air gets in, decomposition starts and carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.  

“By storing water they also help to reduce flood risk in the area, but a lot of the bogs we're working on are drying out and that is not good." 

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Make a donation to help Butterfly Conservation keep Bog Squad going 

Or volunteer with the group

In the past ten years 470 Bog Squad volunteers have carried out 158 work parties at 34 bogs - a total of 6,596 hours' work helping to maintain these precious habitats and carbon stores. 

The team also started the first co-ordinated Scottish survey of Large Heath butterflies - a physical challenge in the boot-sucking mires that has to be repeated three-to-five times in the species' short flight period. 

Now that funding is secured for another year, the team has expanded that surveying to the uplands and plans to do more long-term monitoring in coming months. 

They will also be carrying out a feasibility study into an ambitious and experimental idea: creating a network of volunteers across Scotland to start sowing Sphagnum moss and restore new areas of peatland bog. 

An Emperor Moth is among the creatures making its home in bogs An Emperor Moth is among the creatures making its home in bogs (Image: Iain leach)

However the team has only secured funding until March 2025, and in order to ensure the work goes on, Butterfly Conservation has launched an appeal asking people to give a donation of between £25 and £150.  

Members of public can give online at butterflyconservation.enthuse.com/bogsquad. 

In the meantime, the dedicated volunteers will continue their painstaking work, with 16 more work parties planned in the coming months. 

Polly said: "Our volunteers are amazing: they're prepared to go out in really difficult conditions in the winter when it's cold and wet but they still come because they want to make a difference, and they realise the connection between the climate and nature emergency.  

“We would like to say a huge thank you to every person who has helped us so far and put the call-out to anyone who would like to join us, get some exercise, make some new friends and help save our precious wetland wildlife." 

 Volunteer Stuart Cathro added: "By volunteering with Bog Squad I would like to think that I am doing a little bit so that future generations can enjoy the natural environment. It’s good for the body and soul, and I also love meeting other people who are interested in nature."