Just south of the village of Kirkbride is the expansive Wedholme Flow which is part of the South Solway Mosses Natural Nature Reserve. A place with an interesting history, this bog was ‘milled’ until 2005, a process involving draining and removing large amounts of peat to be sold as bedding plant compost. However, since 2007, Natural England has been working to restore this European designated Special Area of Conservation. Wedholme Flow is a fascinating place with a mix of strange colours, weird plants and rare insects. Look out for the bright red sundew plant, which has sticky leaf pads to catch and eat insects. Find oddly shaped lichens, such as the cup lichen and the red tipped matchstick lichen which look like they are straight from the pages of a fairy tale.
Follow the trails to look out over this vast reserve. Arrive in summer and you might catch sight of adders basking along the path. Enjoy the sea of white as cottongrass, a specialist bog plant, produces its fluffy seeds.
Access to Wedholme Flow is from a car park just off the Wigton to Kirkbride Road- look out for the reserve sign. An information board, waymarked trails and cycle racks are available
