Mags Cousins

Marches Mosses BogLIFE project nears ‘completion’ at Fenn’s, Whixall, Bettisfield, Wem and Cadney Mosses SSSI/NNR,

Mags Cousins

How time flies - it was Autumn 2016 when I wrote an article for the Shropshire Botanical Society newsletter (Cousins, 2016) on the successful £4.9 million bid to the EU LIFE fund for the ongoing restoration of the degraded bog at Fenn’s National Nature Reserve (NNR). The injection of this money has enabled a huge amount of work to be done and it is now time for an update as the project is nearing ‘completion’. Of course, the restoration work that started 30 years ago, will continue for many decades more but the BogLIFE project was set to run for five years and ends in 2022. Fantastic progress has been made by the hardworking NNR team, including the following: • 50ha of coniferous and 40ha of broadleaved trees removed; • 290ha cell bunded and 58ha contour bunded to raise water levels; • Experimental remedial works on 3ha of improved areas of lagg including turf stripping and Sphagnum plug planting and Sphagnum gel

spraying; • Improving water quality by diverting the poorquality water of Bronnington Manor Drain to the edge of the bog; (see Fig. 9) • Removal of 150,000 tyres from Furber’s scrapyard and rehabilitation to semi-natural habitat; • Construction of a viewing tower (see Fig. 10). Some of the works are described and illustrated in more detail below.

Cell bunding

The cell bunding technique has proven effective at other peatland restoration sites in reducing water loss through degraded peat, and certainly seems to have been successful at Fenn’s. Fig. 1 shows all the areas where cell bunding has taken place with the location of the actual bunds digitised by volunteers. The cell bunding technique utilises an excavator to lift the surface layer and pack it into bunds in a honeycomb-like arrangement (Fig. 2). This disrupts the peat “pipes”, or holes in the shrunken oxidised layer which, unseen below the surface, shed water rapidly from degraded peat sites. Fig. 3 shows how well the cell bunding held surface water on the felled conifer plantation. The longterm hydrological monitoring data for the last 30 years of restoration at Fenn’s was analysed by a hydrologist (Leader, 2020) and showed clearly that restoration works had been successful in raising water levels, with a significant jump in relation to cell bunding in all areas, which was not attributable to rainfall effects. Eriophorum vaginatum Hare’stail Cottongrass was certainly flowering profusely at Wem Moss this year, see Figs. 4 and 5. The cell bunding makes traversing the sites even more complicated than before, with routes having to follow the bunds, but staff and volunteers are well accustomed to this. Revegetation is rapid with Calluna vulgaris Common Heather, Vaccinium myrtillus Bilberry and Molinia caerulea Purple Moor-grass on the bunds and Sphagnum cuspidatum Feathery Bog-moss in the wet hollows; not dissimilar to the old hand-cut peat cuttings.

Fig. 2 Aerial view of cell bunding at Wem Moss April 2021 (Natural England Earth Observation Team).

Fig. 3 Surface water on felled forestry area following bunding (Pete Bowyer) Fig. 5 Eriophorum vaginatum Hare’s-tail Cottongrass, Wem Moss, May 2021 (Robert Duff)

Lagg restoration

At Fenn’s, pretty much all of what would have been semi-natural lagg vegetation (wetland with a groundwater influence surrounding the peat dome) was destroyed by agricultural improvement to drained grassland. The grassland has been fertilised and sometimes reseeded for livestock grazing and hay making by the small farms around the site. Remedial works, other than just raising water levels by ditch blocking, were considered necessary for habitat restoration and a technique involving turf stripping is being trialled. The technique has been used on other habitats to remove nutrient-rich top soil but this is a novel method for lagg restoration and is being monitored with interest. In various areas around the bog, an excavator scraped off the surface layers to hasten the lagg restoration, such as on a nutrient rich and disturbed field previously owned by Furber. In 2017 the field comprised tall ruderal herbs with Urtica dioica Common Nettle dominant, also Pteridium aquilinum Bracken, Filipendula ulmaria Meadowsweet, Galium aparine Cleavers, Holcus lanatus Yorkshire Fog and Arrhenatherum elatius False Oat-grass (see Fig. 6a). The scraping results in the exposure of more intact peat, and some areas were rewetted by piping water from elsewhere on the site when necessary (Fig. 6b). The spoil is being put to good use at the cleared scrapyard site to cover the concrete (which is best left undisturbed due to chemical contamination) and encourage natural revegetation. Sphagnum plug planting and gel spraying were

Fig. 6a Furber’s field before lagg restoration 2017, nutrient rich with abundant Urtica dioica Common Nettle (Mags Cousins)

then applied to some of the bare peat of the lagg restoration areas in two phases (November/ December 2020 and May/June 2021), whilst others have been left to regenerate naturally. All the Sphagnum products were propagated by BeadaMoss® Micropropagation Services (EM) Ltd.

Fig. 7 A Sphagnum plug several months after planting, Aug 2021 (Mags Cousins) The Sphagnum plugs are called BeadaHumok™ and comprise a mix of species, and the gel contains Sphagnum propagules, of the same species mix. So far 1500 litres of gel has been sprayed over the bare peat. 116,000 Sphagnum plugs (see Fig. 7) have been planted by staff, contractors and volunteers using the following mixes: Bog Mix: 90,460 plugs comprising: 20% Sphagnum capillifolium Acute-leaved Bog-moss, 20% S. palustre Blunt-leaved Bog-moss, 20% S. papillosum Papillose Bog-moss, 10% S. magellanicum Magellanic Bog-moss, 10% S. cuspidatum Feathery Bog-moss, 10% S. fallax Flat-topped Bog-moss, 5% S. tenellum Soft Bog-moss and 5% S. subnitens Lustrous Bog-moss. Fen Mix: 24,760 plugs comprising 20% S. palustre, 20%, S. fallax, 15% S. fimbriatum Fringed Bogmoss, 10% S. angustifolium Fine Bog-moss, 10%

Fig. 6b Furber’s field after scraping and inoculation with Sphagnum plugs, Aug 2021 (Mags Cousins)

Fig. 8 Abundant Rhynchospora alba White Beak-sedge at Fenn’s (Stephen Barlow). S. russowii Russow’s Bog-moss, 10% S. subnitens, 5% S. capillifolium, 5% S. papillosum and 5% S. cuspidatum. Nathan Brake, who is part of the NNR project team, is monitoring the survival of the Sphagnum as part of his Conservation Resource Management degree project.

Assisted dispersal

Future plans under discussion include assisted dispersal of some of the other key plants of the bog; Rhynchospora alba White Beak-sedge, Utricularia minor Lesser Bladderwort and Narthecium ossifragum Bog Asphodel. All three of these species are still present at Fenn’s but the degree of peat removal and the size of the site are likely impediments to speedy recolonisation, and so the team were keen to test assisted dispersal with appropriate monitoring and controls in place. R. alba has actually had a good year, with sheets of it seen in parts of Fenn’s where it was previously known. Was this in response to the restoration of more favourable water levels and a bit of disturbance, or just a good year? (see Fig. 8). Josh Styles of the North West Rare Plants Initiative submitted a proposal to the BogLIFE team to do some translocation within the site to promote/ speed-up recolonisation of restored areas by certain species. For those that dialled in to Josh’s talk to Bot Soc this year, you will know that he has had considerable success in re-establishing bog plants lost from degraded peatland sites that are under restoration. Methods would differ between species; for R. alba, bulbil-like propagules are easily harvested from the base of plants, whereas for N. ossifragum it will probably be necessary to translocate established plants.

Long-term monitoring

Sophie Laing (BogLife Monitoring Officer) is in the process of compiling the vegetation monitoring report for the site and we look forward to another article in a future newsletter. My thanks to Sophie Laing, Nathan Brake, Stephen Barlow and Robert Duff for their contributions to the article.

References

Cousins, M. 2016 Shropshire Botanical Society, Newsletter No.33, Autumn 2016, p.4 Fenn’s, Whixall, Bettisfield, Wem and Cadney Mosses SSSI and Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Leader, S. (2020) Marches Mosses BogLIFE Project: Hydrological Analysis Fenn’s, Whixall, Bettisfield and Wem Mosses NNR: Hydrological analysis of water levels and water flows and their response to management, LIFE15 NAT/UK/000786, 8th November 2020 Samantha Leader, Leader Environmental Analytics.

Fig. 9 The diversion of Bronington Manor drain, (Pete Bowyer)

Fig. 10 The mammoth viewing tower,. (Stephen Barlow)