LIFE Moor Space: Connecting the Humberhead Levels

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND

Lowland raised bog is one of Western Europe’s rarest and most threatened habitats. The Thorne Moor Special Area of Conservation (SAC) in South Yorkshire, part of the last remnants of a large wetland that occupied the Humberhead Levels floodplain thousands of years ago, is the largest area of lowland raised bog in England. The SAC is rich in many active raised bog species e.g. bog mosses, Sphagnum species and cotton grasses (Eriophorum angustifolium). Located on the boundary of the north/south range of many plant and invertebrate species, the site supports species such as the Thorne pin-palp beetle (Bembidion humerale), found nowhere else in the UK and rare in Europe.

LIFE Moor Space will build on the THAT’S LIFE (LIFE13 NAT/UK/000451) project. THAT’S LIFE started the reversal of the SAC’s condition, addressing many of the conservation issues described in the site improvement plan (SIP). Since this project ended the remaining issues are:

• Drainage: peat cutting and drainage for agriculture has negatively impacted water levels on the SAC and dried the peat;
• Scrub (with some invasive alien species, i.e. rhododendron) is continuing to thrive on the drier private land within the SAC;
• Increased nutrients/pollution, mainly from surrounding agriculture practices; and
• Climate change: increasingly wet winters/drier summers create a challenge to maintaining optimum hydrological conditions.

As England’s largest lowland raised bog, restoration of the Thorne Moor SAC will make a significant contribution to the conservation status of this habitat in the UK and Europe.

 

OBJECTIVES

LIFE Moor Space will restore and improve the hydrological continuity and conservation status of more than 1,800 ha of degraded raised bogs and active raised bogs within the Thorne Moor SAC. The project will address the remaining threats at the SAC and SIP actions developed through the LIFE IPENS project (LIFE11 NAT/UK/000384 - Improvement Programme for England’s Natura 2000 Sites).

The specific objectives are to:

1. Restore 400 ha of degraded bog, securing the long-term future of more than 1,800 ha of SAC habitat by:
   1. Acquiring 80 ha of SAC land, currently in up to 9 separate blocks, to enable coherent water level management across 400 ha;
   2. Removing scrub/trees to reduce evapo-transpiration; removing invasive species (rhododendron);
   3. Restoring water levels on new acquisitions and adjacent land to optimum levels (around 20 cm); planting Sphagnum species to create and stimulate peat-forming vegetation to re-colonise within a 5-year period; preparing a Wildfire Management Plan addressing climate resilience;
2. Work in partnership with 25 land managers within, and adjacent to, the SAC, providing practical advice, training and support to identify alternative funding that delivers land uses that work for them and the SAC. Trial public/private collective 30-year agreements for carbon storage within the SAC and promote complementary agri-environment funding to create a functioning lagg (a wet zone on the edge of a bog) that buffers from agricultural/pollution impacts outside of the SAC; and
3. Promote better understanding and awareness of the value of the SAC and degraded and active raised bog habitats to a wide range of audiences in the UK and Europe.

The project’s objectives are fully aligned with the IUCN UK Peatland Strategy. LIFE Moor Space also supports the EU Habitats Directive: the project actions will contribute to improving degraded raised bogs from Unfavourable level, moving almost 3% more quickly towards Favourable condition, aiming to achieve favourable condition by 2050, with Sphagnum species coverage achieved within 5 years of project completion. It will demonstrate better adaptive management at the project SAC and more than 4 other replication SACs (the UK holds nearly 50% of the Atlantic resource of degraded raised bogs still capable of natural regeneration) and be transferable to other fenland/mire habitat types within Europe.

LIFE Moor Space will also contribute to the EU’s 2020 and 2030 biodiversity strategies, the EU Water Framework Directive and 2030 climate & energy framework, as well as the UK’s Prioritised Action Framework for Natura 2000. In addition, the project is in line with the EU’s 7th Environment Action Programme and action plan for nature, people and the economy, as well as supporting the European Landscape Convention and the Bern Convention.

RESULTS

Expected results:

1. 80 ha of land purchased, enabling water level management across 400 ha;
2. 400 ha of SAC restored, moving more than 1,800 ha toward Favourable and “secure” condition, addressing site issues through the following:
   1. 50 ha of mixed birch/rhododendron scrub cleared from the SAC and adjacent land, with follow-up treatment in years 3-5;
   2. 1.8 km of bunding on cell boundaries/2.6 km of drain works, 4 dams and 1.2 km of piling to create a coherent water level management unit;
   3. 5 ha of Sphagnum plugs planted at 25% density across 20 ha;
   4. Wildfire Management Plan produced; 3 km of fire breaks; and
   5. All landowners contacted; 90% of owners signed up to agreements to deliver sustainable management on contiguous land, benefiting the SAC.