Langkær

- sub-project no. 4

Langkær is a small raised bog located southwest of Silkeborg in Velling Skov, which is owned by the Nature Agency Søhøjlandet. Drilling tests have shown that the high bog was formed by the overgrowth of a lake and that it is probably many thousands of years old. The peat layer is approx. 7.5 m deep centrally in the northwestern part of the bog. The bog was once drained to dig peat, and the upper layers of the bog have largely been dug away.
In the context of Natura 2000, the raised bog itself is mapped as a mosaic between active raised bog (7110*) and degraded raised bog (7120). The majority of the bog is either dried out or consists of excavation surfaces overgrown with bluetop. In addition, a part is affected by surface water from a stream that follows the course of an old main ditch. There is also considerable overgrowth with woody plants, primarily downy birch (Betula pubescens).
It is estimated that there is a great potential for restoration to active raised bog (7110*) due to rising water levels - i.a. because the bog still contains many species of vascular plants and peat bogs, which are characteristic of active raised bogs. This applies, among other things, to Rosemary heather (Andromeda polifolia), dogwood (Eriophorum vaginatum), white hornwort (Rhyncospora alba), round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), bell heather (Erica tetralix) and sedge (Narthecium ossifragum) as well as the peat bogs Sphagnum magellanicum, S. rubellum, S. cuspidatum, S. papillosum and at least earlier S. tenellum.