PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
At 950 ha, the Natura 2000 network site, Fenns, Whixall, Bettisfield, Wem and Cadney Mosses, is Britain’s third largest lowland raised bog. Some 71% of the site is active raised bog, a priority habitat type listed in the Habitats Directive, and 25% is degraded raised bog. Much of the site is also classified as a national nature reserve. The project aim was to restore 665ha of this habitat to achieve a more sustainable, resilient, and better functioning active raised bog.
Drained to enable peat cutting, agricultural improvement and afforestation, the centre of the site was rescued from near destruction in 1990 due to commercial peat cutting.
OBJECTIVES
The overall aim of Marches Mosses Bog LIFE was to restore active raised bog habitat and convert part of the degraded raised bog habitat to progress the Natura 2000 site towards favourable conservation status. This objective was consistent with the prioritised action frameworks (PAFs) for England and Wales, which identify bogs as a priority ecosystem. Although the UK does not have an official bog restoration strategy, this project fed into Natural England’s highest priority for lowland bog restoration, and contributed to other national targets, such as its prioritised improvement plans and site improvement plans along with the delivery of England’s biodiversity strategy.
The specific project objective was to restore 665ha of habitat to achieve a more sustainable, resilient and better functioning active raised bog, including restoration of the lagg zone. This included the restoration of 575ha of raised bogs and 67ha of degraded bogs in the site and an additional 23ha of important, undesignated land adjacent to the site.
RESULTS
The restoration work included:
- acquiring degraded raised bog in unfavourable condition;
- removing woodland and conifers;
- improving the bog’s water quantity and quality through new water control structures, contour bunding;
- dam adjustment, reducing evapotranspiration and diverting polluted water;
- restoring active bog processes;
- raising awareness of the SAC by increasing physical and intellectual access for a wide range of audiences.
Overall, the project has achieved – and, in some cases, even exceeded – these aims and goals. All in all, the concrete actions and deliverables have been effectively and fully delivered. It contributed towards the both the UK’s 25 Year Environment Plan, Peatland Strategy, and the European Union’s Biodiversity Strategy for 2020.
This project is considered important in demonstrating:
- restoration of degraded bog edge habitats including ‘lagg’;
- restoration of active raised bog from forest on shallow peats on sand (other LIFE projects involving forest removal bog projects have had more rain and deeper peats);
- resolution of SAC restoration problems caused by the presence of a polluted scrapyard that has negatively affected the surrounding SAC for over 50 years;
- attempts at merging early restoration “first-fix” developing bog vegetation together using dam adjustment and contour bunds to cope with the extremely variable topography left after intensive peat sod-cutting (other LIFE sites have large intact domes surrounded by marginal uniform peat cuttings, and large level marginal peat milling areas);
- efforts at bunding more uniform shallow and less cutting-patterned flat marginal peats (bunding areas on other LIFE bogs have deeper peats without timber and are usually on uniform steeper rand slopes);
- adoption of one of the first pilots in England and Wales of a Site Nitrogen Action Plan on a Natura site, as recommended by the IPENS LIFE project;
- volunteer and trainee programmes and opportunities to engage a wider audience.
