It lies at the heart of the Flow Country, a large, rolling expanse of peatland and wetland area of Caithness and Sutherland that makes up almost 5% of the world's blanket bog.

Blanket bogs form in cool, wet areas with acidic soils, as sphagnum mosses does not fully decompose under such conditions.

Over thousands of years the partially decomposed remains of mosses and other bog plants build up, forming a layer of peat that can be up to 10 m deep.

[8] In the years following the Second World War the UK government encouraged the growth of forestry plantations on peatland via grants and tax concessions.

[1] The RSPB undertook work to remove the forestry and block up drainage ditches to allow the original water levels to return.

Birds that can more easily be seen by visitors to Forsinard Flows include golden plovers, dunlins, greenshank, hen harriers, skylarks and meadow pipits.