Gordon Moss facts for kids
Gordon Moss is a special nature reserve in Scotland. It's found near a village called Gordon in the Scottish Borders area. This amazing place is a leftover piece of a much bigger wet, boggy area, once part of Berwickshire. It's a fantastic spot to explore nature and see lots of different plants and animals. You can find it about a mile west of Gordon village, just south of the main road (A6105). There are places to park your car nearby.
Wildlife at Gordon Moss
Gordon Moss is home to many creatures. It's especially famous for its insects! You can spot 16 different kinds of butterfly fluttering around. There are also over 200 types of moth living here. This shows how important the moss is for supporting a wide variety of wildlife.
A Look Back in Time
Long ago, on January 21, 1882, a worker walking across Gordon Moss made an exciting discovery. He found an old flint axehead! It was made of dark grey stone and measured about 150mm long and 50mm wide. This shows that people lived and used this area a very long time ago.
Gordon Moss is just a small part of what used to be a huge area of wet, boggy land. This land stretched from Earlston all the way past Gordon towards Greenlaw. Over time, people tried to drain the land to make it good for farming. But draining Gordon Moss was very hard. Even today, when it rains a lot, much of the area becomes very wet and boggy.
The land of Gordon Moss used to belong to a big estate called Greenknowe. Around the 1700s, some land from this estate was sold to create plots for houses in Gordon's Main Street. The new owners of these plots often had special rights to use parts of the Greenknowe lands. These rights included things like catching rabbits, collecting firewood, and cutting turf (called "divots") to use for fireproofing roofs.
These rights sometimes caused problems with farming on the Greenknowe estate. So, in the 1800s, a part of Gordon Moss was given to these new owners, known as "feuars," in exchange for their old rights. It's believed that some properties in Gordon still have rights to use parts of the moss today. The feuars continued to try and drain the land. They also used it for grazing animals, collecting firewood, and even for shooting.
There's a fun local story about Gordon Moss. Long, long ago, enemy soldiers attacked the nearby village of Gordon. Some brave local young men, known as the "Gordon Gowks," tricked the invaders. They pretended to run away, leading the soldiers into the very dangerous, boggy parts of the moss. The soldiers got stuck, and the village was saved! The Gordon Gowks are still remembered for their cleverness.
Gordon Moss Today
Today, Gordon Moss is a very important place. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). This means it's a protected area because of its special plants, animals, or geology. Places like this are looked after and checked by Scottish Natural Heritage. There are very few natural moss lands left in the Scottish Borders, making Gordon Moss extra special.
While there isn't much human activity or maintenance in Gordon Moss, the Scottish Wildlife Trust helps look after a part of it.
The water levels in the moss are lower than they used to be. It's a peaceful and quiet place to explore. If you visit, make sure to wear strong footwear because some areas can still be very boggy. There are safe paths to follow, but be careful of deep boggy spots and pools. Also, keep an eye out for adders, which are a type of snake that lives there.
