Donegal and its blanket bogs: Fuel and memory in a warming world

Colm Phaidi Jimmy once told me that, “You can take the man out of the bog, but you cannot take the bog out of the man.”

Growing up in Gaoth Dobhair in the 70's, we harvested our own plants and vegetables and cut and saved turf. The turf cutting season would traditionally begin on Easter Monday and last right through to the back-to-school days in September.

Our neighbours Micki Beag John Sheamais and John Mhici would always organise the traditional “meitheal” for Easter Monday, made up of Frank and Joe Mhici, Johnny Mhicheail, Ownie Donai and Brighni Beag. John Mhici would stay back home cooking the turf cutter’s evening meal. Traditional Irish food was brought to the bog, including homemade bread, country butter, rhubarb jam and loose tea leaves.

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Upon arrival at the bog, an open fire would be prepared and a kettle boiled with water sourced from the local naturally purified well. Tea from the open-air bog fire, for some unknown reason, tasted so rich. Tea breaks served as much as social events, as nearby turf cutters would join in. On one occasion, a neighbour told Conall Roise how much alcohol he consumed over the holiday Easter weekend, to which Conall retorted, “I have a cow down at home and she couldn’t drink that much”.

Three weeks after the turf was cut, it would be footed as “crógaíl”. Because of the damp Co. Donegal climate, "an crògáil" required two passes, a back-breaking exercise. Once dry, the turf had to be lifted to the roadside using cradles, another back-breaking task. Whilst the work was tough, it was also enjoyable as there was a strong social element and one was never alone.

Back then, we were totally dependent on turf as it was our only form of fuel. Whilst attending Scoil Bhun an Inbhir in the late 60’s, I even had to bring two sods of turf to school. Failing to do so could result in a beating from Annie Chonaill.

The thought of being prevented from cutting turf was not on the radar and even if anyone mentioned it, we would have been abhorred. It was our lifeline and without it, we simply could not survive.

That world, “the meitheal”, the open fire, the shared labour, existed in harmony with the bog because we had no choice but to depend on it. It was a relationship built on necessity, not environmental awareness. What none of us understood then was that beneath our wellingtons lay thousands of years of accumulated carbon, quietly doing work that the entire modern world now desperately needs. The bog was not just our fuel; it was our climate system.

The Creation of our Blanket Peat Bogs
At the end of the Ice Age some 11,000 years ago plants began to grow naturally, and 80% of Ireland became covered in forests. However, in the west of Ireland, high levels of rainfall and poor drainage meant that parts of the land remained permanently wet. As the ground became saturated the lack of oxygen affected trees and plants and many gradually died off.

As plants continued to grow and die in these waterlogged conditions, they did not fully decompose. Instead, the partially decayed plant material accumulated and formed peat, an extremely slow process averaging about 1mm per year. The bog I worked on in Gaoth Dobhair was approximately 2.0m in depth, meaning it could have taken in the region of 2,000 years, or longer, to form.

As tree roots were also deprived of oxygen they too died. We often came across preserved tree trunks, "Gráigín", whilst cutting turf. Whilst preparing for our annual bonfire night at Teach Den John to celebrate Oíche Fhéile Eoin we would venture out to collect these "Gráigín", along with waste tyres from Ownie Sheain’s garage. All very team spirited at the time but now recognised as environmentally damaging.

The bog contained large volumes of carbon that trees and plants had extracted from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, and provided rich habitats for plants, insects and a wide range of wildlife. However, and more importantly for us at the time, it was our only source of energy. Like the Middle East’s dependence on oil, we were totally dependent on turf.

Current Energy Dependence
Even to this day large parts of rural Ireland are still dependent on turf as their main form of fuel. The east of the country, along with urban areas, is well served by Bord Gáis infrastructure. With the onslaught of climate change there is now a significant push towards renewable energy, a hugely difficult transformation even in urban areas. In rural areas, where housing is dispersed and often poorly insulated, the transition will be even more challenging.

Turf and briquettes release stored carbon when cut and burned and, whilst they have long been part of rural life, the drainage and cutting of peatlands can also damage valuable habitats and reduce their natural ability to store carbon.

The Renewable Energy Transition — A Donegal Perspective
There is a clear irony in all of this. The same rugged, wet and windswept landscape that once made Donegal dependent on turf is now being presented as part of the solution to the very challenges that turf burning has contributed to. Wind energy is abundant here, but the transition will not be simple.

Grid capacity in the northwest is severely constrained. Unlike Dublin or Cork, Donegal sits at the end of the line. Substantial investment in transmission infrastructure is required before the region’s wind potential can be meaningfully harvested. Wind energy is also intermittent; it requires backup generation, typically from gas, during calm periods.

When wind turbines are located on peatlands, which is frequently the case in Donegal, construction disturbs carbon-rich soils and releases the very emissions the turbines are meant to offset. The carbon payback period for peatland-sited wind farms can run to decades, a critical planning consideration that needs to be considered.

Solar energy faces its own challenges. Unlike the Mediterranean, Donegal’s winters are long, dark and wet, precisely when energy demand peaks. The mismatch between generation and demand is a fundamental obstacle that battery storage technology has not yet fully resolved.

For rural households, the practical reality is stark. A family in a draughty, poorly insulated rural home cannot simply switch from turf to an air source heat pump overnight. The upfront cost, retrofitting required and grid reliability needed are all significant barriers. Policy must therefore reflect that reality.

The Land Beneath Our Feet is Already Changing
Several weeks ago, I published an article about the fragile state of the earth’s soil. The responses received confirmed what many already sense: the soil is deteriorating faster than how positive action is responding.

A farming friend from Co Carlow recently told me he is on the verge of a nervous breakdown because his entire farm has been underwater for months. Across Ireland, wetter winters and more intense rainfall are saturating soils that were never designed to absorb such high volumes. The parallel with peat formation is sobering; it was exactly these waterlogged, oxygen-depleted conditions that converted ancient forests into the bogs we worked on as children. Climate change is not a future threat to Irish soils. It is a present one and permanently saturated soil is therefore a worrying reality.

Farmers, smallholders and rural communities are absorbing the early shocks of a crisis that urban populations and international large-scale producers are only noticing. That imbalance, between who causes the emissions and who first feels the consequences, must inform how we implement the transition ahead.

From Reflection to Action
Winston Churchill, when once asked what he felt about the Irish situation, is said to have replied that he had "nothing to offer but sympathy, and that there was just not enough sympathy to go round."

According to Irish environmental journalist and commentator John Gibbons, climate change is a persistent and worsening reality. Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University and the UN hold a similar view, as does Noam Chomsky, the renowned American philosopher and political thinker, who has repeatedly warned that climate change represents one of the gravest threats ever faced by humanity.

Hence, all of us should consider what we can. Becoming aware of and accepting the problem is a step in the right direction. Recycling and reuse in accordance with circular economy principles is a step forward. Car-pooling and the greater use of public transport are also positive steps. No-mow policies will help our threatened bees and insects. Planting and harvesting our own fruit and vegetables will help. Improving home insulation and reducing energy demand can significantly cut household emissions.

Supporting peatland restoration will help protect valuable carbon stores and biodiversity. Reducing food waste and buying locally produced goods can lower our overall environmental footprint. The scale of the problem is worrying; globally, an estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted every single year, a staggering figure that carries both a moral and an environmental cost. As Pope Francis noted in Laudato Si', throwing food away is like stealing from the table of the poor.

Rewilding degraded land, even in small pockets, allows nature to recover on its own terms. Where scrub, wetland and native woodland are permitted to return, biodiversity follows and carbon storage improves quietly but meaningfully over time.

Planting native trees rather than commercial monocultures, whether on farmland, roadsides or in private gardens, helps rebuild what centuries of land clearance have destroyed.

Engaging with and supporting local environmental groups and community initiatives matters more than many people realise. Policy rarely changes without pressure from below, and that pressure begins with informed, connected communities.

Engaging with and contributing to Donegal County Council's draft Biodiversity plan offers huge potential towards sustainable living. Building a 5m wide wilded buffer zone between arable land and water streams will help mitigate against harmful chemical runoff.

Finally, thoughtful land use planning that respects ecological limits will ensure that development and environmental protection move forward together.

As the old Chinese proverb reminds us, “the best time to plant a tree was twenty-five years ago. The next best time is now”.

David Attenborough once suggested that “The human species is a plague on the Earth”.
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Whether or not one accepts that stark assessment, the evidence on the ground is increasingly difficult to ignore. The expansion of fossil fuel-driven industrial capitalism since the mid nineteenth century has been one of the most environmentally destructive forces in human history.

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It has barely stopped raining in parts of Ireland since December 2025. As global temperatures rise, the atmosphere holds more moisture, increasing the likelihood of prolonged and intense rainfall events in Ireland.
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Farmers have been unable to turn stock out to grass as land remains saturated. Large parts of our island were recently flooded under several feet of water.

Globally, wildlife populations have declined by 75% since the 1970’s, according to the WWF Living Planet Index. Within the European Union, around 80% of protected habitats are assessed as being in poor or bad conservation status.

Abandoned farmhouse reverting to natural succession and habitat recovery at Carrick
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Claims are often made that our topsoil can deliver only another sixty harvests, while others suggest closer to one hundred. Regardless of the precise figure, soil degradation is a serious issue both nationally and internationally. Approximately 95% of our food production depends on soil. At current rates of deterioration, that foundation is under sustained pressure.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, roughly half of Ireland’s rivers and lakes are not in good ecological status under the EU Water Framework Directive. Year after year we fail to meet national climate targets.

Donegal suffered serious landslides in 2017 following periods of intense rainfall and storm events. In June 2025, unusually high temperatures were recorded at the same location in Malin Head, highlighting the growing volatility of our climate at Ireland’s most northerly point.
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As a result of declining fish stocks and tightening EU quota allocations, fishermen operating out of Killybegs face significant restrictions. The Atlantic mackerel stock, one of the region’s most important commercial species, has been assessed as being under sustained pressure in recent years, with quota restrictions affecting industry viability.

Invasive species such as Japanese knotweed are aggressively colonising river systems, transport corridors and disturbed land, outcompeting native vegetation, reducing local biodiversity and imposing substantial long-term control and remediation costs.

Against this backdrop, it is legitimate to question how ecologically wild the Wild Atlantic Way truly is, and whether Donegal’s landscapes function as resilient ecosystems or merely present a visually dramatic, touristy but ecologically degraded facade.
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Re-Wilding - The New Buzz Word

In 2016, the late biologist and Harvard professor Edward O. Wilson argued in his book “Half Earth” that to safeguard biodiversity and maintain a stable biosphere, humanity should set aside 50% of the Earth’s land and sea surface for nature.

His proposal was based on the species area relationship, a well-established ecological principle suggesting that protecting half the planet could allow roughly 85% of species to persist long term. Currently, only about 18% of the Earth’s land surface is formally protected, while less than 8.0% of the ocean is designated as protected.
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Donegal’s Land Use Reality and Peat Carbon

Donegal’s landscape is predominantly grassland and rough pasture, with this category likely accounting for well over half of the county’s land area in combination with commonage and grazed upland. Forest cover accounts for approximately 12% of the county.

Extensive blanket bog and other peatland habitats cover around 30% or more of Donegal, representing in excess of 150,000 hectares. When drained, peat soils can emit around 10 tonnes of CO2 per hectare per year, depending on condition.
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Rewilding, or giving back to nature, significantly reduces these emissions and restores long-term carbon storage capacity. Areas under arable tillage are minimal and well under 5%, reflecting the county’s topography and climate.

Semi-natural habitats such as heathland, wetland, dune systems and lakes form a mosaic with grassland and peatland across the rest of the county.

Granny Point, Loughros - Dynamic cliff landscape shaped by erosion and maritime ecology
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Giving Back to Nature at Knepp and Dunsany, Working Models of Managed Rewilding

In 2018, Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell published the book Wilding. In it, they describe how they converted a 1,400-hectare arable estate in Sussex into a rewilded landscape. Initially, whilst under intensive farming, reliant on chemical fertilisers and pesticides, soil quality declined and the business was financially unviable. Following the shift to extensive grazing and natural wilding, biodiversity increased significantly and the estate diversified into profitable eco-tourism and organic meat production.

At Dunsany, Co Meath, Lord Dunsany adopted a similar low-intervention approach across approximately 400 hectares of his estate. Large areas were removed from conventional production and allowed to grow wild naturally. Native woodland expansion, wetland recovery and the return of species such as barn owls and hares have been documented.
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The estate has also developed biodiversity monitoring, educational outreach and low-intensity grazing systems. In addition, the approach has enhanced on-site carbon sequestration, improved natural water retention and flood attenuation, strengthened soil structure and microbial activity, and increased habitat connectivity across the wider landscape mosaic.

The Case for Donegal

Donegal is traditionally associated with cattle and sheep farming. Only a very small proportion of land, approximately 3%, is used for tillage, reflecting soil type, climate and topography. The dominant systems are drystock and upland grazing.
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Teagasc figures indicate that average family farm income for cattle and sheep systems nationally is often below €40,000 per annum, with a substantial proportion, frequently over 80% in drystock systems, derived directly from CAP support initiatives. In marginal northwestern counties, this dependency is typically higher than the national average.

Grassland and rough grazing account for most of the agricultural land use. Cattle systems occupy a significant share of improved grassland, while sheep grazing is widespread across upland and commonage areas. Given this structural reliance on public CAP support, a legitimate policy question arises as to whether targeted incentives could support partial land use transition towards managed rewilding in carefully selected areas.

From Economic Dependence to Ecological Opportunity
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Examples in Sussex and at Dunsany, Co Meath, demonstrate that low intervention models can increase biodiversity while maintaining land management.

However, any approach in Donegal would require careful planning. Blanket peat, acidic soils, wind and high rainfall create different ecological conditions in lowland England. If land were simply abandoned without a strategy, rushes, bracken and invasive species could dominate. Hence, hydrology, grazing pressure, vegetation growth and deer management would need to be actively monitored.

A managed transition, rather than passive abandonment, would therefore be essential. Following the decision to rewild the 1,400-hectare Knepp Estate in Sussex, significant biodiversity gains were recorded within five years, including increases in nightingales, purple emperor butterflies and breeding turtle doves. This demonstrates that ecological recovery can occur relatively quickly when rewilded areas are allowed to function more naturally.

Carrick, Glean Cholm Cille - Marginal farmland transitioning toward woodland and scrub regeneration

A Practical Pilot for Donegal

In Donegal specifically, a practical starting point could possibly be to focus on a clearly defined portion of marginal upland, rugged lowland, carefully selected sections of blanket bog, rugged commonage grazing land and drained peatlands most in need of restoration. These are areas where farming returns are often lowest and where incentivised environmental gains could be highest.

A targeted, redirected CAP pilot scheme, aimed at managed rewilding, could support landowners to gradually transform the most sensitive ground, rewet damaged peat and restore natural habitats, all while ensuring farm incomes are adequately supported.

This would not mean walking away from the land or undermining rural communities. It would mean managing certain areas differently, grounded in climate science and ecological recovery, with nature given more room to recover and farmers properly supported through the transition, in support of the 50% back to nature philosophy.

While a full return to preindustrial conditions is unrealistic, measurable recovery of species such as curlew, hen harrier, corncrake, red squirrel, eagle, otter, badger and raptor populations is feasible if habitat quality and hydrology are restored.

Attenborough called us a plague. But a plague does not have to be permanent. Donegal has the landscape, the people and the policy tools to begin writing a different ending.

Attenborough also suggested that: “It’s surely our responsibility to do everything within our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us, but for all life on Earth.”
Eamonn Coyle, Chartered Engineer & Chartered Environmentalist