Biodiversity improves as wetlands are restored
23 February 2010
A former wetland area in Cheshire is being re-flooded for the first time in decades, returning a rare and ecologically important habitat back to its former richness.
Delamere Forest, near Northwich, is made up of more than 100 peatland basins and includes several sites of rare 'quaking' bogland, a phenomenon in which sphagnum mosses form a carpet above peaty water that appears to tremble when trodden on. The entire area was gradually drained from the early 1800s until it was replaced by forestry plantations, and since then the rich peaty boglands have been largely lost under surface soil and trees.
However, work is now under way to return them to their natural state.
'We're looking for a mosaic of areas of open water and small islands raised above the water where Calluna and bilberry can grow,' says Oliver Thompson, the ranger in charge of the project. 'We're changing a very species-poor environment into what it once was.'
The process is by no means straightforward, as the boggy nature of the sites means it's often impossible to get machinery in and most of the trees have to be painstakingly cut down by hand. Deep drainage ditches, originally dug by Napoleonic prisoners of war, are then dammed to allow water to percolate sideways into the peat.
A pilot project to restore the largest of the basins, Blakemere Moss, has proved a great success and has been rapidly recolonised by rare mosses such as the orange-brown Sphagnum pulchrum as well as wildlife like diving beetles and great crested newts. It's hoped that once re-flooded, the basins will also act as a natural sponge for excess rainwater, helping alleviate local flooding.
The project is part of the £4 million Wetland Vision run by Natural England which aims to recover almost 2,000 hectares (7½ square miles) of wetland in the UK. Other projects in the pipeline include restoring wetlands in East Anglia, Morecambe Bay and the Somerset Levels.