Wem Moss National Nature Reserve

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Overview

The Wem Moss NNR is an outstanding example of a lowland raised bog, a wildlife habitat that only exists today in Britain in a few tiny fragments. This miraculous relic of a once-common former wilderness is encircled by trees in an otherwise intensive agricultural landscape. Wem Moss is famous for its invertebrate life, in particular the great raft spider, a six-inch monster that walks across the pools in the peat bogs in search of its prey. All three British species of carnivorous sundew are found here, along with the starry golden spikes of bog asphodel, the fragrant bog myrtle and bog rosemary. Adders can also be found sunning themselves on the Moss. The Shropshire Wildlife Trust, which manages the reserve, wages a continuous battle with encroaching bushes and trees which, if left unchecked, would consume millions of gallons of water, causing the bog to dry out.

Features

Opening Times
Open all year

Location

WEM, SY13 2LT

About the area

Perhaps nowhere else in England will you find a county so deeply rural and with so much variety as Shropshire. Choose a clear day, climb to the top of The Wrekin, and look down on that ‘land of lost content’ so wistfully evoked by A E Housman.

Explore Shropshire

Wem Moss National Nature Reserve

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Wem Moss National Nature Reserve

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