Dorset Peat Partnership receives funds for £1million project

Fragmented and damaged peatland stretching over 172 hectares at 16 sites across the county will be restored by the Dorset Peat Partnership, thanks to £1million of funding.

The partnership, led by Dorset Wildlife Trust, received £750,000 from Defra’s Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme, which has been matched by £250,000 from other funders and partners.

Dorset’s iconic heathlands hold the largest areas of the UK’s peat in ‘peaty pockets’ and valley mires, with peatland the largest land-based carbon stores in England.

However, most of them are degraded and emitting carbon, because they are not wet enough to be building up peat.

The grant was given after 18 months of survey work on an initial list of 80 sites, narrowing this down to 16 where the most successful restoration can be done.

The work will allow sites to hold water for longer each year, reducing the carbon emitted from degraded peat, and allow carbon sequestration.

It will also improve drought and fire resilience by holding more water during the summer.

Dorset Wildlife Trust’s conservation director, Imogen Davenport, said: “We are delighted that the hard work of the partnership to plan for restoration of some of Dorset’s precious peatlands has been recognised by the award of this grant.

“Our peaty pockets not only act as a carbon and water store, so keeping sites wet in drought and holding back water in flood but of course, they are home to some of our most precious and specialist wildlife.

“This includes sphagnum moss which plays a part in forming peat soils, insect-eating plants like sundew, and raft spiders, which sense their prey by feeling for vibrations in the water surface.”

Natalie Poulter, Dorset Catchment Partnerships co-ordinator said: “Dorset is well-known as a beautiful and wildlife-rich county, but our peatlands are overlooked and in decline.

“This one-million-pound project will provide a huge kick-start to the long-term recovery of these precious wetland habitats.

“The patchwork nature of Dorset’s heaths and mires means that restoring the wet peaty areas will have a ripple effect of supporting wildlife in the wider heathland habitats too, making this restoration doubly exciting.”

The partnership includes Natural England, Forestry England, the Environment Agency, BCP and Dorset Councils, the National Trust, Bournemouth University, and the RSPB.