Hickory Flats peat moss and northern bog club moss. The five-rowed peat moss (Sphagnum quinquefanum) can be recognized by its rather short and stiff branches which appear angular because of the arrangement of its closely set leaves widely angled in 5 ranks. Red peat moss (Sphagnum rubellum) is a small reddish-coloured peat moss with tongue-shaped stem leaves. And northern bog club moss ("Lycopodiella inundata") has branches up to 10 cm high with narrow, pointed leaves 4–8 mm long. Hickory Flats provides a secluded habitat for a population of black bear ("Ursus americanus"). Since bears are shy and secretive, they are rarely seen.
Portlethen Moss saturated organic layers could actually rupture, spilling large volumes of mud and organic debris to surrounding fields, thus enabling a bed for further spatial expansion of the entire bog. Ultimately the colour of the moss waters became blood red in colour, from the successive organic decay and stagnation. Only in times associated with cattle grazing and significant human presence (probably the late Iron Age), would this process reverse and the bog reduce in size. A wide variety of sphagnum, sedges, rushes and other characteristic bog species inhabit Portlethen Moss. Sometimes insectivorous plants reside in mosses, since the soils are generally