It’s easy to overlook moorland and bog … but it has the potential to save us.
We’re the Boggarts, a group of writers and artists united by our love of moorland - especially Walshaw Moor in West Yorkshire. We’re creating a beautiful anthology of writing, to build a wider connection with the moors and bogs of Walshaw Moor and similar ecologies across the UK - because we believe that when we are connected with land and the life that lives there, we are more likely to care for it.
This anthology will be published in a groundbreaking collaboration between Little Toller with Bluemoose Books. It includes fiction, non-fiction and poetry from some of UK’s leading writers, including Amy Liptrot, Horatio Clare, Nicola Chester, Guy Shrubsole, Pascale Petit, Michael Malay, Polly Atkin and Alys Fowler - alongside other exciting established and emerging writers. It combines creativity and a deep love of place with scientific, historical and cultural perspectives. Expect ecology and mythology, poetry, birds and sundew; the Brontës and other literary characters; alongside personal encounters with moorland and bogs across the UK and beyond.
Often viewed as wasteland, moors and bogs play a crucial role in ensuring biodiversity and protecting us from climate change. Although 80% of the UK’s peatlands have been drained, stripped or otherwise damaged, they still contain over three billion tonnes of carbon – more than all the forests of the UK, France and Germany combined (ONS 2019).
Walshaw Moor is currently the proposed site for England’s biggest onshore wind farm. This proposal is opposed by the RSPB, National Trust, CPRE and other major national ecological organisations because of the widespread damage it will cause to peatland and the creatures who live there. Other organisations are concerned about increased flood risk, and Walshaw Moor’s rich cultural heritage.
As our need for renewable energy becomes ever more urgent, we believe that it’s equally urgent to increase our understanding of this important landscape, and to bring greater awareness into this vital, contentious debate.
Why do we need your help?
Whilst the writers, the publishers and the Boggarts are working for free, we need to raise £12,000 to cover printing and production costs.
