Phase 1 Peatland Restoration
Peatland Restoration Phase 1 Completes!
February was a busy month as our first phase of peatland restoration on the Tarras Valley was successfully completed! It is a huge milestone to see this first phase completed especially as it was one of our flagship aims as part of the community buy-out, there are many areas still to do but we’re off to a great start.
The Langholm Initiative have been working alongside Dumfries and Galloway based peatland experts, Crichton Carbon Centre for the past few years to design the extensive restoration plans. The capital works have been funded with support from SP Transmission as part of their Biodiversity Enhancement Strategy. SP Energy Networks have set ambitious goals to achieve “No Net Loss” of biodiversity by 2028 and deliver “Nature Positive” by 2030 in their recently published Action Plan for Nature – and supporting this project helps to deliver those goals.
Following a competitive tender, the groundwork was carried out by contractor DC Restoration Contracts. The contracting team pulled out all of the stops get the works done before the bird nesting season began in March. They used 5 specialised low ground pressure diggers and a technique called ‘wave zipping and damming’ to block the drains.
Over 54km of artificial moorland drains have been blocked up and exposed areas of peat re-profiled to stop further erosion. The self-seeded regenerating sitka spruce trees have also been removed from the area as part of the restoration works.
The aim of these works is to help restore natural hydrology, returning the dried-out peatland to its natural bog-like state and creating a mosaic of habitats that will allow a range of species to thrive including wading birds, insects and rare plants.
It required a big team effort to get it over the line, right in time for the birds returning! The impact has already been noticeable with hundreds of tiny wetland pools appearing across the area and we’re excited to see what happens next as spring arrives on the Tarras Valley.
We are now in the early stages of scoping out phase 2 of our peatland restoration programme, watch this space for more details as they develop!