Test 2
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Sphagnum. Credit: Jenny Sharman
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Sundew. Credit: Lizzie Shepherd
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Hare’s Tail Cottongrass. Credit: Tessa Levens
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Curlew. Credit: Damian Waters
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Short-eared owl. Credit: Pam Jones
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Adder. Credit: Danny Green
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Common lizard. Credit: Ceri Katz
What’s so special about peatlands?
A unique habitat
Peatlands are home to some amazing and beautiful wildlife: including many species of sphagnum moss, the carnivorous sundew plant, hare’s tail cottongrass, curlew, short eared owl, adder and common lizard.
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Aerial photography shows the damage caused by gripping and gullying. Credit: Alistair Lockett
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Hags expose bare peat. Credit: Jenny Sharman
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Grips drain water from the uplands. Credit: Tessa Levens
How have they been used and damaged?
The effect of draining peatlands for agriculture
In the 50s and 60s, the Government paid land managers to drain blanket bog to improve the land for sheep grazing
Narrow drainage channels called ‘grips’ were dug to drain water from the fells.
Drying out the peatlands killed off the plants that live on the surface of the peat, exposing it to erosion by wind and rain.
This led to formation of deep channels (known as gullies), and steep faces of bare peat (hags), driving the formation of areas of bare peat leading into a vicious cycle of further erosion.
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Maps provide detail on how water is moving across a given restoration site and where it is driving erosion; this enables us to target our interventions where they will have the most impact. Credit: Yorkshire Peat Partnership
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Sites are surveyed using a range of methods, but much is done on foot with hand-held GPS mapping tools. Credit: Caitlin Greenwood
How is Yorkshire Peat Partnership repairing and restoring these habitats?
The tools of our trade
Planning our approach to restoring damaged blanket bogs starts with site surveys. We conduct both desk-based and field surveys. Aerial photos used in our surveys are often provided by our in-house UAV pilots. Using handheld GPS mappers, we categorise all the features of a site, including vegetation, damage and peat depths. Yorkshire Peat Partnership’s expanding team has already surveyed nearly 59,800 hectares using these methods.
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Helicopters are used to drop dam materials in place. Credit: Dave Higgins
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Specially adapted diggers reprofile bare peat to encourage vegetation to grow. Credit: Matthew Roberts
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Coir dams criss-cross a badly damaged site. Credit: Aaron de Raat
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Bog vegetation is planted by hand on areas of bare peat. Credit: Ben Queenborough
How is Yorkshire Peat Partnership repairing and restoring these habitats?
Transforming the landscape
Restoring damaged blanket bogs focuses on interventions that reduce the loss of water and through blocking drainage channels and re-establishing key vegetation species that play a vital role in holding water in the peatlands and covering bare peat.
Yorkshire Peat Partnership works with specialists to block grips and gullies with peat, coir, wood and stone dams, and plant sphagnum mosses and cottongrasses.