The Flow Country is a large, rolling expanse of peatland and wetland area of Caithness and Sutherland in the North of Scotland. It is the largest expanse of blanket bog in Europe, and covers about . It is an area of deep peat, dotted with bog pools and a very important habitat for wildlife, as well as climate change mitigation. As peat is largely made up of the remains of plants, which are themselves made up of carbon, it locks up large stores of carbon for thousands of years. This carbon would otherwise be released to the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. The Flow Country is currently being considered as a potential World Heritage Site on account of its unparalleled blanket bog habitat. It could be part of the Global Peatlands Initiative. Wildlife Named after the Old Norse word 'floi' meaning 'wet' or 'marshy', the Flow Country is home to a rich variety of wildlife, and is used as a breeding ground for many different species of birds, including greenshank, dunlin, merlin and golden plover. Birds of prey found in the Flow Country include the buzzard and hen harrier. One of the most prevalent plant species of the Flow Country is sphagnum moss, which can store large amounts of water, and eventually form peat – the building block of a blanket bog. Carnivorous plants such as roundleaved sundew, greater sundew, and butterwort feed on the multitude of insects that inhabit the Flow Country. Large mammals such as red deer, and the less common, roe deer roam the Flow Country all year round and can be heard roaring during the autumn rutting season. History The Flow Country was altered between 1979 and 1987 through the planting of conifer forests and the cutting of drains. Tree restoration on private land was supported by subsidies and tax relief schemes at a time of high personal taxation. The ploughing of the bogs and tree planting helped to reduce local unemployment which was among the highest in the United Kingdom: however in 1987 the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) launched a report in London that was highly critical of the foresters. The Conservative Party which was in government at the time decided to disband the NCC and create a separate Scottish agency now called Scottish Natural Heritage. However, in 1988 Nigel Lawson, The Chancellor of the Exchequer, recognised that a tax break was doing enormous