Mooreland restoration in the Peak District National Park
As part of our Sustainable Catchment Management Plan phase 1 (SCaMP1), we’re well on our way to revegetating the large areas of bare and eroding peat on our catchment land in the Peak District National Park. Working with Natural England and specialist moorland contractors Dinsdale Moorland Services, we have stabilised the bare peat and spread lime, fertiliser and grass seed by helicopter.
On flatter areas, chopped-up heather brash was flown out in bags and spread by hand on bare ground. In total around 10,000 bags were spread during the winters of 2007, 2008 and 2009. On steeper areas geotextile netting is used to stabilise the bare peat.
The recent wet and warm summers have provided excellent growing conditions and the results have been dramatic. What were dark areas of peat are now bright green patches, demonstrating the large-scale improvements that we’ve made to our drinking water catchments.
As a result of the revegetation project, not only are grasses growing through but heather seed from the brash germinated and has now established itself. In addition moorland plants such as bilberry and cotton grass are colonising these restored areas, creating a healthier and more sustainable moorland habitat.
The next phase of work is to begin blocking the extensive network of eroding gullies, which we started this spring. The gullies are much bigger than the grips and cannot be blocked using the techniques used on the grips as the blocking material would just be washed away. Dinsdale Moorland Services have developed an innovative new methodology using a helicopter to drop stone directly into the gullies.
The stone dams are permeable so they will only slow the water down, not stop it completely. This will reduce the erosive power of storm events and lead to sediment build up behind the dams. The first time that it has been trialled in the field is on SCaMP.
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