Les Sagnes peatbog

Peatbogs are magnificent relics of post-glacial lakes that slowly filled with decomposing plant matter. They form an eco-system that is specific to cold climates and acid soils. In their secret depths, partly rotted substances or pollen might tell us that a forest of hazelnut trees grew here 9,000 years ago, ousted first by an oak grove and then, 4,000 years later, by a beech forest. Another two millennia later, humans burnt the beech grove to grow cereals and graze livestock. Today, peatbogs are protected at the European level. (B. Mathieu)