Kinder Scout restoration

Robert Henry
Jun 8
2 min read

We have recently successfully undertaken one of the largest ever peatland restoration projects on behalf of the National Trust. Working to restore 526 hectares of blanket peatland on the Kinder Plateau, the highest point of the Peak District national park. It was a privilege to work on a site as environmentally and historically significant as the Kinder plateau. The site of the 1932 mass trespass which lead to the creation of the UK’s first national park. The aim of the project was to restore the degraded blanket peat bog on the Kinder Plateau which has suffered through atmospheric pollution and historic agricultural practices, in order to improve the carbon dioxide sequestration of the moorland as well as natural flood management, water quality improvement and biodiversity gain.

The initial stage of the project involved the cutting, filling and airlifting of 1800 bags of heather brash onto the moor, along with granulated lime, fertiliser

and moorland grass seed. Working closely with Heli-lift, we co-ordinated the airlifting of the heather brash to be dropped by areas of degraded bare peat. The brash was then applied to the bare peat along with the mixture of lime, seed and fertiliser in order to reduce the acidity of the soils and encourage to stabilisation of The bare peat and growth of native moorland plant species. This initial application was

followed up by a re-application of lime seed and fertiliser once the initial vegetation recovery had began.

Following the application of the heather brash to the bare peat,

we began the implementation of gully blocking techniques. This included the installation of over 3000 stone dams, which were airlifted onto the moor and then dropped into the gully bottom, where the stone would then be shaped into a dam. The use of stone dams encourages the trapping of eroded sediment in the gully, and the formation of pools of water. This reduces the impact of erosion and allows the already

eroded gully systems to begin to repair.

Another form of gully blocking we have

implemented on the Kinder Plateau was the installation of over 350 timber dams, which act in a similar manner to the stone dams but have more of an immediate impact, forming large pools almost instantly. These pools help to maintain

a high water table across the moorland, making the peat less susceptible to drying and erosion. These pools also encourage the growth of native moorland plants such as sphagnum mosses.

As well as encouraging the already present sphagnum moss to grow on the Kinder Plateau, we planted 832,000 new sphagnum moss plugs, an incredible plant capable of retaining 20 times its own weight in water. Sphagnum moss is critical to peatland restoration work as it helps to create the waterlogged conditions required for the

protection and formation of blanket peat. This was one of the more challenging aspects of the project. Our team carried the sphagnum moss up steep and difficult terrain onto the plateau, working tirelessly to plant the plugs in suitable ground that will allow the sphagnum that will allow the sphagnum to grown and form large, waterlogged carpets of moss across the plateau.