HEAD FOR THE HILLS Restoring peatlands
Since 2013 Cumbria Wildlife Trust has been working to restore peatland habitats throughout Cumbria. Whilst we own peatland nature reserves, such as Dumburgh Moss and Foulshaw Moss, the focus of the restoration team is to restore peatlands on land outside our nature reserves. Over the last 12 years we have surveyed over 12,000 hectares of peatlands and carried out restoration works on over 5,000 hectares. Our year is largely split into
two halves: over the spring and summer we carry out surveys, and throughout the autumn and winter months we undertake restoration works. Our surveys record habitat condition, the plant species that are present, peat depths, and any signs of erosion or degradation. We then use the results from these surveys to write restoration plans, which outline the work that needs to be carried out to help restore that area of bog. Tis year we have
surveyed 905 hectares, including the peatland areas of Skiddaw Forest Nature Reserve. During the summer months we also get everything prepared for the restorations we are carrying out that year. Autumn and winter is when all this work comes together and culminates in restoration works happening on sites. We use specialist contractors, supervised by our peatland conservation officers, as it is highly-skilled work that requires substantial machinery. Large 9-tonne diggers, fited with wide tracks to stop them from sinking and to limit damage to vegetation on the bog, are used to carry out these works. Te restoration varies between sites, but typically has two main aims: to stop further erosion of the peat by revegetating areas of bare peat, and to re-wet the dried-out peat, in order to turn it back into a healthy, functioning bog.
Sphagnum moss is the main building block of peat, and in the autumn its colours are especially rich and vibrant. Amongst it you can find glistening sundews and the red autumnal leaves of cranberry and bog rosemary.
The altitude and location of peatland sites sometimes requires a helicopter o deliver materials.
Te techniques used on upland sites usually involve:
• blocking drains with peat, timber or stone dams
• revegetating areas of bare peat with turves ‘borrowed’ from the surrounding areas
• reducing the angle and revegetating steep peat faces
• puting in small arc bunds, which are low-lying, long mounds of peat and vegetation typically 2–3m long, that hold back small shallow pools of water and help to re-wet the peat
Restoration on lowland sites can be more complex but typically involves:
• large-scale bunding that forms ‘cells’, 30x30m in size, that re-wet the peat and hold back a shallow pool of water that Sphagnum and other specialist plants can colonise
Tis winter we are carrying out restoration works on 705 hectares across six locations, including sites up above Tirlmere, in the Duddon valley and on the fells between Troutbeck and Kentmere.
26 Cumbrian Wildlife | November 2025
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© ANDY ROUSE/2020VISION
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