Breathing LIFE into blanket bog

A new project in north Wales will see large areas of blanket bog being restored.

Blanket bog is an extremely rare habitat – the amount and quality of it in Wales and across the UK has declined significantly over recent decades.

The five-year LIFE project, a partnership between the RSPB, the Countryside Council for Wales, Environment Agency Wales and Forestry Commission Wales, will lead restoration work to repair areas of damaged blanket bog in the Berwyn and south Clwyd mountains and Migneint-Arenig-Dduallt Special Areas of Conservation, including on the RSPB’s nature reserve at Lake Vyrnwy.

Healthy blanket bog absorbs carbon and may be useful in helping to combat climate change. If all of the blanket bog in England and Wales could be restored it has been estimated that it could capture 41,000 tonnes of carbon per year. However, damaged blanket bog emits a huge amount of carbon - as the peat in the bog decomposes greenhouse gases are released – and in its present state, England and Wales’ blanket bog is estimated to be losing 381,000 tonnes each year.

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The LIFE project team have already begun restoration work, blocking the drains to allow the bog to retain water once more, removing invasive plant species such as rhododendron and sitka spruce and reseeding parts of the bog with heather. Once the blanket bog has been restored to a healthy condition, it will also help to maintain a more consistent supply of clean water in the area and be an important habitat for moorland birds such as hen harriers, merlins, snipes and golden plovers.

“The LIFE project is a fantastic opportunity to protect a valuable habitat and the birds and other animals which depend upon it,” said Jared Wilson, LIFE project manager. Arfon Hughes, senior reserve manager for the Countryside Council for Wales, commented: “The potential benefits to tackling climate change make this even more important. We constantly hear through the media pessimistic stories about climate change and global warming. This project is a positive step to assist some of the best Welsh upland blanket bog habitats to cope with an uncertain future.”

Alongside the habitat restoration work, the project team will monitor the impacts on water quality and vegetation, assessing the effects on the organic farm at Lake Vyrwny. The team will also work with local communities such as farmers and other landowners and will host educational visits to the blanket bog for local schoolchildren.

There will be ten guided walks over the summer, open to the public, to highlight the blanket bog work. For more information about attending the walks or about the LIFE project, call the team on 01691 870939 or email gorgorscymru@rspb.org.uk