Welcome to the Exmoor Mire Restoration Project pages
Hydrological and Ecological Restoration of the Bogs of Exmoor
Introduction to Mires
Mires are peat accumulating habitats - such as Blanket bogs, Valley bogs and Fens. All of which occur in the Exmoor National Park. Blanket bog is the commonest mire type on Exmoor with over 30sq km present but it is a globally scarce habitat with a unique association of plants and animals; 20% of the total world Blanket bog area occurs in the UK. On Exmoor Blanket bog and peat covers the central moorland but it has been dried out by centuries of moorland reclamation, agricultural drainage and domestic peat-cutting. As a result it has lost many of the interesting plants, animals and birds and become dominated by moorland grasses.
The Exmoor Mire Restoration project is re-wetting and restoring these interesting and valuable wildlife areas with ditch blocking and water management techniques.
Mire Contractors at North Twitchen (March 2009)
Since initiation in 1998 as a pilot project it has developed into the current 4 year (July 2006 – Jun 2010) project. This was possible due to the involvement of a new partner, South West Water (SWW) and a greatly enhanced budget of £400,000 (thanks to the financial and in kind commitments from all the partners and SWW in particular). The project is managed by a dedicated project officer Dr. David Smith with overall control via a Steering Group, comprised of representatives from the five main partners:-
- Environment Agency (EA) (Devon Area)
- Exmoor National Park Authority (ENPA)
- Natural England (NE) (formerly English Nature)
- South West Water Limited (SWW)
- English Heritage (EH)
Restoration work has now taken place at 12 moorland locations on Exmoor. This includes ENPA owned moorland at Blackpitts, Exe Head and Long Holcombe, National Trust owned Moorland at Aldermans Barrow Allotment and on privately owned moorland at Verney's Allotment, Roostitchen, Broadmead, Squallacombe, Great Vintcombe, Codsend moor, Hangley Cleave and North Twitchen. In total 50km of ditch has been blocked so far with over 4300 dams made from bales, wood and peat. This has resulted in the re-wetting of over 300 hectares of Moorland. The work on these sites has been carried out by contractors and the ENPA Field Services team and has cost in the region of £170,000. The costs have been met from the Mire Project budget and Natural England's Agri-environment schemes (HLS, ESA) which have funded the capital works on the privately owned moorlands.
Cattle grazing former peat cuttings at Blackpitts, blocked in 2007 with peat dams
The restoration so far has been on a small part of Exmoor’s dry and damaged moorland and there is at least another 1000ha which remains to be addressed. Failure to do so will result in further drying out and damage. Climate change is likely to increase this effect. This will continue to cause:
- loss of SSSI wetland habitat and associated BAP species
- degradation of the peat and loss of carbon into the atmosphere
- drying out of archaeology and palaeo-ecology on the moors
- damage to moorland river hydrology and ecology with associated problems of erosion, drying out in summer, flooding and loss of key species and diversity.
The project has identified a further 150 damaged peatland sites across Exmoor where hydrological restoration would be beneficial to the moorland. This includes blanket bog and valley mire sites. This covers an area on excess of 2000 hectares, which includes blanket bog and valley mire.
1. New 'Mires on the Moors' project
The current project funding ends in June 2010 but the Restoration Partnership will continue its good work with funding from a new source. A successful South West moorlands partnership funding bid was made in 2009 by South West Water to the Water Regulator (OFWAT). Dartmoor and Exmoor National Parks will now share £3.8m of mire restoration funding over the next 5 years starting in 2010.
This new “Mires-on-the-Moors” project partnership will be led by South West Water, with contributions in staff, time and resources from the other partners. The project will be run by dedicated staff based in Exmoor and Dartmoor.
On Exmoor mapping of ditches and cuttings from old air-photographs has identified a possible 150 further damaged peatland sites, covering over 2,000ha. The first task for the new project is to contact the land-owners concerned and visit these sites on the ground to asses their restoration potential. If they are found to be suitable this is the first stage in negotiating a restoration plan with the land-owner and Natural England. The aim is to create a sustainable moorland management plan which rewards the land manager for looking after carbon and water resources, whilst continuing to support farming on the moorlands. In this way moorland restoration will result in real benefits for people and wildlife.
Link to map (jpg, 1.3MB)
Mires on the moors press release (PDF, 61KB)
Click on this link to read the latest project progress briefing note March 2010 (PDF, 1MB)
2. Restoration on Aclands now completed. Over 800 wood, peat and bale dams were constructed on site blocking over 8km of C19th drainage ditches and peat cuttings.
Restoration - before, during and after on Sqaulacombe November 2009
3. Volunteers team from the environment agency day out on North Twitchen, Friday 11th September
A team of Environment Agency staff from the South West region put in a hard days work on North Twitchen fixing dams and tidying up the site
4. Project day out for visitors a great successes
On 16th of July Project Officer David Smith led a guided walk for visitors across the restoration areas at North Twitchen and Squallacombe. Despite forecasted wet conditions a dozen happy visitors and locals turned out with the aim of learning more about the Restoration Project and the wildlife on the moors.
5. Project wins national flood management award
The Exmoor Mire Restoration Project received this prestigious award in the 2009 Water Industry Achievements Awards event held at Birmingham International Conference Centre on Wednesday 20th of May. It was in recognition of the projects work to retain water on the moorlands of Exmoor and thus reduce high river flows following rainfall. The project was entered by South West Water and nominated for an award in the category "Sustainable Urban Drainage & Flood Management Initiative of the Year". The event was attended by staff of all the project partners together with Anne Clitheroe (National park member) and Robin May who represented May Brothers, one of the private landowners involved in the project. The results were announced on the night following a black tie dinner and the award (an inscribed glass award in the shape a water droplet) was received by Steven Bird, SWW director of Operations.
Follow this link to more pictures of Exmoor blanket bog restoration (PDF, 1.3MB)
The many benefits of The Exmoor Mire Restoration Project include:
- Fighting global warming and climate change Worldwide peatlands are huge carbon stores, but damaged areas release carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere through oxidation processes. Restoration halts oxidation and promotes active peat growth thus increasing the absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere. The restoration of peatlands could play a major role in mitigating against atmospheric CO2 rises. Calculate your carbon use and see how much can be offset in mire restoration and other projects
- Restoring important habitats Mire restoration will improve the ecological condition of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI’s) benefiting wildlife in the moorlands and the wider Exmoor area. This will help to achieve targets set by Government for the improvement of SSSI condition and for the conservation of habitats and species identified in The Exmoor Biodiversity Action Plan
- Re-establishment of natural stream hydrology in Exmoor headwaters Encouraging water retention in the upland wetlands will delay and weaken peak river flows while augmenting low base flows at times of low rainfall.
- River environment and aquatic ecology improvement Re-establishing natural flow regimes improves water quality benefiting all river life including salmon and trout which are common in Exmoor river headwaters. More on how the Environment Agency is working to look after our aquatic environment
Further information:
Find out more about The hydrology and restoration of damaged mires on Exmoor, the history of moorland drainage, peat cutting on Exmoorand the peat resources on Exmoor(PDF, 296KB) (click on links)
3 year Project report 2006- 2008 (PDF, 2.8MB)
Getting involved with the Mire project
Are you a land owner, a National Park resident or and interested visitor? To find out how to become involved with the Exmoor Mire Restoration Project contact: DMSmith@exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk
Three year project report (PDF, 5MB)