Editing Dartmoor (section)

===Bogs===
Much more rain falls on Dartmoor than in the surrounding lowlands. As much of the national park is covered in thick layers of [[peat]] (decaying vegetation), the rain is usually absorbed quickly and distributed slowly, so the moor is rarely dry. In areas where water accumulates, dangerous [[bog]]s or mires can result. Some of these, topped with bright green moss, are known to locals as "feather beds" or "quakers", because they can shift (or 'quake') beneath a person's feet. Quakers result from sphagnum moss growing over the water that accumulates in the hollows in the granite.<ref>{{cite book|first=Ian |last=Mercer |chapter=Bogs and Mires of Dartmoor |editor-last1=Hunt |editor-first1=P. J. |editor-last2=Wills |editor-first2=G. L. |date=1977 |title=Devon Wetlands |location=Exeter |publisher=Devon County Council |page=16 |isbn=0-903849-19-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/bogs_moor.htm
|title=The Bogs & Mires of Dartmoor
|publisher=Legendary Dartmoor
|access-date=12 July 2009
|last=Sandles
|first=Tim
|archive-date=1 November 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101133944/https://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/bogs_moor.htm
|url-status=dead
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Crossing |first=W. |title=Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor |date=1912 |publisher=Western Morning News Co. Ltd.}}</ref>

[[File:Aune head mire3.jpg|thumb|left|[[Aune Mire]], the source of the [[River Avon, Devon|River Avon]]]]
The vegetation of the bogs depends on the type and location. [[Blanket bog]], which forms on the highest land where the rainfall exceeds {{convert|2000|mm|in}} a year, consists mainly of cotton-grass (''[[Eriophorum]]'' species), sedges (''[[Carex]]'' and ''[[Rhynchospora]]''), ''[[Narthecium ossifragum|Bog Asphodel]]'' and ''[[Common Tormentil]]'', with ''[[Sphagnum]]'' thriving in the wettest patches. The valley bogs have lush growth of [[Juncaceae|rushes]], with sphagnum, [[Erica tetralix|cross-leaved heath]], [[Drosera|sundews]] and several other species.<ref>{{cite book
| last=Brunsden
| first=Denys
| author2=Gerrard, John
| editor=Crispin Gill
| title=Dartmoor. A New Study
| chapter=The Physical Environment of Dartmoor
| publisher=David and Charles
| year=1970
| location=Newton Abbot
| pages=[https://archive.org/details/dartmoornewstudy0000gill/page/40 40–42]
| isbn=0-7153-5041-2
| chapter-url-access=registration
| chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/dartmoornewstudy0000gill/page/40
}}</ref>

Some of the bogs on Dartmoor have achieved notoriety. [[Fox Tor|Fox Tor Mires]] was supposedly the inspiration for Great Grimpen Mire in Conan Doyle's novel ''[[The Hound of the Baskervilles]]'',<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/grim_mire.htm
|title=Dartmoor's Notorious Fox Tor Mires
|publisher=Legendary Dartmoor
|access-date=7 July 2009
|last=Sandles
|first=Tim
|archive-date=23 March 2009
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090323024547/http://legendarydartmoor.co.uk/grim_mire.htm
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> although there is a waymarked footpath across it. [[Sabine Baring-Gould]], in his ''Book of Dartmoor'' (1900) related the story of a man who was making his way through Aune Mire at the head of the [[River Avon, Devon|River Avon]] when he came upon a top-hat brim down on the surface of the mire. He kicked it, whereupon a voice called out: "What be you a-doin' to my 'at?" The man replied, "Be there now a chap under'n?" "Ees, I reckon," was the reply, "and a hoss under me likewise."

<ref>Milton 2006, p. 2</ref><!-- mention "Dartmoor Stables" -->