The Peak District has around 25,000 hectares of blanket bog (opens new window), almost all within Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

After a long period of degradation due to air pollution, drainage, fire and overgrazing, significant work has been carried out over the past three decades to begin restoration of the peatland in the Peak District and South Pennines, as shown by the Moor Mapping Project (opens new window). However, there is still a lot more to do.

All blanket bog should be on a restoration trajectory towards modified (stage 5) and active (stage 6) according to ‘States of blanket bog (opens new window)’. It is expected that reaching stage 5 and 6 will take several decades. How quickly this happens will depend on intensity of restoration activity, e.g. density of sphagnum planting.

For nature

• Restoring the blanket bog can help decrease both habitat and species vulnerability to climate change effects.
• The Peak District blanket bog could become an important refuge for more southerly species.
• Our restored peatlands could support healthy populations of many threatened species, such as sundew and bog rosemary.
• Wet bogs provide feeding areas for birds such as curlew, golden plover and dunlin, common lizards, and a range of rare insects.

Peak Naze (Credit - Moors for the Future)

What else can restoration deliver?

• Over 40 million tonnes of carbon are stored in the South Pennines Special Area of Conservation (opens new window), but due to the area`s degraded state, it is currently emitting carbon. In restored condition, peatlands have the potential to sequester and store even more carbon - vital in mitigating climate change.
• Gully blocking (opens new window), combined with re-vegetation of bare peat, will slow the flow of water off the moors during heavy rainfall by around 400 percentage points. Adding further surface roughness through sphagnum introduction will slow the flow even further; sphagnum can hold 20 times its weight in water (opens new window).
• Sediment runoff is greatly reduced when peatlands are restored, increasing water quality in rivers and reservoirs.
• Rewetting and raising the water table could help reduce the scale and impact of wildfires.
• Restored peatlands can conserve important archaeological remains and pollen records within and below the peat.

In practice

• Stabilise remaining areas of bare peat using geotextile or heather brash, and revegetate using grass nurse crops, lime, fertiliser.
• Raise the water table to more natural levels, for example by blocking gullies and grips using dams. With the exception of peat dams, ground disturbance should be minimised by airlifting materials onto site.
• Ways of managing peat pipes are being explored, including the upstream blocking of pipes and revegetation of gullies (opens new window).
• Reintroduce sphagnum moss. Sphagnum will usually establish quickest by plug planting.
• Restore the full suite of blanket bog plants by reducing heather or grass dominance, for example by cutting. Some species may need reintroductions.
• In some areas, trees and scrub may help stabilise the blanket bog edge or larger gullies.
• Management during and after restoration should be done by low intensity grazing. Cattle and wild herbivores such as deer generally cope well with restored bog conditions.
• Burning is not appropriate on blanket bog. In exceptional circumstances, a licence from the Secretary of State may be granted under the Heather & Grass Burning Regulation 2021 (opens new window) as part of a restoration package.

CASE STUDY Kinder Scout