Construction group builds future for peat bog

Oct 28 2008 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

A COMPANY has sunk £5,000 into a project to save a Northumberland bog.

Northumberland Wildlife Trust has been given the cash by construction company Carillion plc.

Its Carillion Natural Habitats fund is backing the trust’s Beautiful Bogs project at Holburn Moss and lake.

Holburn Moss in the north of the county is a lowland raised bog where it is thought the peat formed 7,000 years ago. The site supports a variety of bog mosses and bog plants including heather, cotton grass, cranberry and round-leaved sundew.

A lake created on the moss in 1934 is important as a winter roost for greylag geese. The moss and lake are a site of special scientific interest, a Ramsar internationally important wetland site and a European Special Protection Area. The donation will fund urgent work to help Holburn Moss survive as an active bog. Without immediate work, the area will become too dry for plants to grow.

In the next year, the damming of ditches using recycled plastic and the removal of water-draining trees will contribute towards restoration of the area.

Similar projects on other sites in Northumberland have led to recolonisation of cotton grass, which is a food plant of the large heath butterfly. This is one of two UK butterflies on the European endangered list and has been recorded at Holburn Moss, making this its most northerly home in England.

Trust head of land management Duncan Hutt said: “The company’s generosity will help us in our efforts to preserve a site which is home to a wealth of species which will simply disappear if the site isn’t protected.”