WLGS 48 Tailend Moss (Proposed RIGS) [NT 009 678]

WLC site description

Part of the Quaternary deposits, landscapes and soils sites

Other designations: B-SSSI (Tailend Moss); WS (Tailend Moss); RBI (Tailend Moss); SWTR (Tailend Moss)

This site on the western outskirts of Livingston is one of the few remaining examples of raised bogs in West Lothian, though it has suffered damage by peat cutting and mining subsidence. The main geodiversity interest is the peat soil; there is also potential for pollen records to help elucidate the depostional and climatic history of the area after the last glaciation.

Tailend Moss is a raised bog on low lying ground, bordered by acid grassland, scrub and fen communities. The Moss consists of a complex of extensive wet peatland communities, dry heath and in the low lying sections, open water pools and swamp vegetation. Tailend Moss is one of the few examples of this type of habitat in the Lothians and is of value for breeding heathland birds and several locally rare plants such as Alternate Water-milfoil Myriophylum alterniflorum, Bog Asphodel Narthecium ossifragum, Greater Bladderwort Utricularia vulgaris and Lesser Pond Sedge Carex acutiformis. It is a Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) Reserve and home to one of the few remaining populations of Water Voles in West Lothian.