page_title: Auchentiber
section_title: The mosses
hierarchical_section_title: Auchentiber / Mineral wells and the source of the Chapel Burn / The mosses
caption_attribution_description: Description: Drosera rotundifolia growing in sphagnum moss with sedges and Equisetum in Mt. Hood National Forest Picture taken by: Noah Elhardt
context_page_description: The hamlet of Auchentiber is in North Ayrshire, Parish of Kilwinning, Scotland. Auchentiber is 4 miles NE of Kilwinning on the Lochlibo Road, 2.2 miles from the hamlet of Burnhouse and 2.6 miles from the village of Barrmill. Grid Ref. NS3647. Some new housing has been built, but the settlement is still very much a hamlet. The settlement is on the Lugton Water, which runs into the River Garnock after running through Montgreenan and Eglinton Country Park in Irvine.
context_section_description: This low-lying area is dominated by Bloak, Lissens, Sidehead, Kennox, Auchentiber, Over Auchentiber, Auchentiber South, Auchentiber West, Dykeneuk, Dykeneuk South, South Auchenmade and Cockinhead mosses. These are more correctly called 'raised bogs' or 'mires' and are a very rare habitat in lowland Scotland; around 90% having been drained or otherwise degraded beyond any possible restoration. Auchentiber Moss is partly wooded with mainly birch trees and the remains of pheasant rearing cages are noticeable. Hummocks or 'heads' of moss are an unusual feature of the wooded part of this moss. Moorgrips or ditches are frequent on the moss and the walker had better beware. Cockinhead is unusually well preserved and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), protected by the Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) organisation. Burns from some of these (Auchentiber, Sidehead and Brummel) run through the hamlet on their way to join the Lugton Water.
  Typical plants of these mosses are cottongrasses, ling heather, bell heather, cranberry, blaeberry, bog rosemary, sundews, deer grass, crowberry, etc. Mr. Kerr, the Montgreenan Estate forester in 1915 described to the Kilmarnock Glenfield Ramblers how afforestation was being tried on Auchentiber Moss by his employer, Sir James Bell. During WW1 many woods were cut to provide timber for the war effort and plantings took place to provide for future needs.
  The part of Auchentiber Moss that was successfully planted circa 1915 now has a good number of large, uniformly aged Scots pines that have greatly contributed to the drying out of the moss in those areas. The pines are also successfully spreading out into the open areas of the moss and will eventually degrade the site unless these trees, as well as the silver birch, are removed. The North Ayrshire Ranger Service carried out a detailed survey of the Auchentiber and other mosses in 2008.
  A certain amount of peat cutting has taken place, especially beside the road to Sevencares and Kilwinning. Historically the Auchentiber and Dykneuk mosses were one continuous moss, as were Bloak and Kennox.
  Dr. Duguid visited Bonshaw, the home of the collector Alexander Reid, circa the 1840s and lists some of the items in Reid's collection, including garden seats made of bog-oak from Auchentiber Moss. In the 1840s during peat cutting at Auchentiber a straight row of wooden stakes was discovered under the peat, which was then between 10 and 12 feet thick.
caption: Round-leaf sundew (D. rotundifolia) growing in sphagnum moss.
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