NORTHUMBERLAND WILDLIFE TRUST
Nearest Town: Kielder
OS Map: NY708860 (OS 50 000 Sheet 80)
Falstone Moss is the most accessible of the Border Mires.
Location and access: Car parking is at Tower Knowe Visitor Centre or at the south end of Kielder Dam. A path to Falstone Moss begins at the main road, 300m west of the dam. It leads over moorland and a belt of forestry land to a boardwalk on the moss itself. The total walk is 2 km and conditions can be very wet.
Falstone Moss is the most accessible of the Border Mires. There is a self-guide leaflet (available by contacting the Trust office) describing the walk across the boardwalk, and an interpretation board on site. Species such as meadow pipit, red grouse, adder, roe deer and the hairy caterpillars of northern eggar moth can be seen from the walk. In summer the central pool becomes alive with dragonflies and damselflies such as the common hawker, black darter and large red damselfly. The most characterisitic and abundant bog plant is hare’s-tail cottongrass. The tussocks of the cottongrass indicate that the bog is too dry. Sitka spruce is regenerating on the bog’s surface as a result and this needs constant work to keep it under control. Sphagnum mosses, the main peat-forming plants, are localised alongside the boardwalk. Growing in the moss are bog asphodel, cranberry, and occasionally bog rosemary.