The boggier, the better for
MOOR WILDLIFE Alice Learey from the Moors for the Future Partnership reports on how keeping groundwater on the moors for longer is helping Peak District wildlife and increasing biodiversity.
T
hanks to the unique habitat of blanket bog, the Peak District moors are home to a wonderful array of upland animals and plants. From the lilting call of the curlew that conjures images of the rolling moors to the silent cotton-grass that blows in the wind signalling the start of spring, these moorland specialists – and many others – rely on a boggy, waterlogged habitat in order to survive, and thrive. Blanket bogs are the wetlands cloaking the tops of the moors; their distinctive waterlogged conditions provide a unique habitat. Over 200 years of historic air pollution from the industrial revolution and wild fires, both historical and more recent, have led to the blanket bog in the Peak District being degraded and dried out on a massive scale. Large areas of previously healthy blanket bog became vast expanses of bare peat, stripped of the living bog layer of plants. Despite the work of the Moors
The Peak District moorland is home to an array of upland animals and plants. (Top left) A curlew in flight.
12
www.peakdistrict.gov.uk
for the Future Partnership (MFFP), whose lead partner is the Peak District National Park Authority, to restore these areas of bare peat, there is still much to be done for these areas to support wildlife – in particular, to re-wet the moors. Without these fundamental boggy conditions, the peatlands struggle to support the moorlands’ unique plant and wildlife.
Enhancing the habitat will support an intricate web of plant and wildlife A MFFP project is currently underway to enhance the blanket bog habitat. The Building Blocks Project – Next Steps in Gully Blocking will raise the water level in the peat by blocking gullies. Gullies are channels in
the bare peat created through erosion that funnel water from the moors and dry out the bogs. The gullies can be as much as four metres deep; these drain the peat and dry it out. MFFP will map out priority locations for 100,000 mini dams (also known as gullyblocks) across the Peak District and South Pennines to support moorland species. Enhancing the habitat will support an intricate web of plant and wildlife, from the crowberry to the green hairstreak butterfly to the short-eared owl. Work to install the first lot of mini-dams will start this year, with 1,000 due to be installed in 2020 across the Peak District. Native moorland plants rely on waterlogged conditions and are integral for the survival of many moorland insects, some even lending their name to species – such as the bilberry bumblebee. The mini-dams will allow water to pool and offer moorland plants the right conditions to establish, encouraging native bog species like
