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A PEAT BOG UNDER THREAT INTRODUCTION Gors Lwyd (Grid Ref. SN8575) is a peatland at the watershed of the rivers Elan and Ystwyth, at an altitude of 386m, which is likely to be submerged or at least badly damaged if plans for the enlargement of the Craig Goch reservoir in the Elan Valley are implemented. Each year the Mires Research Group, a specialist section of the British Ecological Society, has a field meeting somewhere in Britain to study a peatland*In September 1975 it was decided that the threat to Gors Lwyd was sufficient to justify a broad, if not detailed, study of this peatland, perhaps one of the best of its type still remaining in mid-Wales. A small basin in the northern part of the site has already been studied and the stratigraphical and pollen analysis results published (Moore and Chater, 1969; Moore, 1970). The work of the Mires Research Group fell into two sections, one to look at surface vegetation in relation to water chemistry and the other to look at the stratigraphy of the peat and the underlying shape of the whole site. The plant species found in the first part of this investigation are given in Table 1. Plant Species at Gors Lwyd Numbers following names show percentage of quadrats containing that species. Flowering Plants Agrostis canina (Velvet Bent) 3.5 Andromeda polifolia (Marsh Andromeda) 2.0 Calluna vulgaris (Ling) 4.5 Carex echinata (Star Sedge) 1.0 Carex lasiocarpa (Downy-fruited Sedge) 8.5 Carex limosa (Mud Sedge) 0.5 Carex panacea (Carnation Grass) 0.5 Carex rostrata (Bottle Sedge) 8.5 Deschampsia flexuosa (Wavy Hair Grass) 1.5 Drosera rotundifolia (Sundew) 18.5 Erica tetralix (Cross-leaved Heath) 17.0 Empetrum nigrum (Crowberry) 1.0 Eriophorum angustifolium (Cotton-grass) 51.0 Eriophorum vaginatum (Hare's Tail) 22.0 Festuca ovina (Sheep's Fescue) 1.0 Galium palustre (Marsh Bedstraw) 3.0 Mosses and Liverworts Acrocladium stramineum 1.0 Aulocomnium palustre 4.0 Calypogeia sp. 15.0 Campylopus flexuosa 7.5 GORS LWYD — F. M. SLATER TABLE 1 Juncus bulbosus (Bulbous Rush) 1.5 Juncus effusus (Soft Rush) 3.5 Luzula campestris (Field Woodrush) 1.0 Menyanthes trifoliata (Bog Bean) 15.0 Molinia caerulea (Purple Moor Grass) 58.0 Narthecium ossifragum (Bog Asphodel) 14.5 Phragmites communis (Reed) 1.0 Polygala serpyllifolia (Heath Milkwort) 1.5 Potamogeton polygonifolius (Pondweed) 7.5 Potentilla erecta (Common Tormentil) 1.5 Rhynchospora alba (White Beak-sedge) 5.5 Trichophorum cespitosum (Deer-grass) 8.5 Utricularia sp. (Bladderwort) 5.5 Vaccinium myrtillus (Bilberry) 3.0 Vaccinium oxycoccus (Cranberry) 8.5 Viola palustris (Marsh Violet) 1.5 Cephalozea sp. 7.5 Cephaloziella sp. 12.0 Cladopodiella fluitans 1.0 Dicranum scoparium 3.5