Honeygar

Honeygar sits between our existing nature reserves of Westhay Moor, Catcott Complex and land we manage on Tealham and Tadham, all with large elements of lowland peat. Using the Lawton Principles of ‘bigger, better, more and more joined up’ Somerset Wildlife Trust had identified the site as one that provided huge opportunities to create a more connected landscape for wildlife, and help improve the habitats we have on our existing reserves.

This is an exciting site for Somerset Wildlife Trust as it’s the first we’ve bought to allow nature to recover without setting specific habitat or species objectives. We know the biodiversity baseline is relatively poor (better in some fields than others) and we know we want to restore the degraded peat. This is a long-term project with at least a 50 year timeline.

Read our reports on the ongoing transformation of Honeygar into a haven for biodiversity and a showcase of ground-breaking science and monitoring.

2022/23  2023/24

Honeygar has mostly deep peat soils (on average 1.8m deep) which have been drained and become very degraded over decades of intensive agricultural use. There is increased focus globally and nationally on the importance of peatlands as a carbon sink, (peatlands cover 3% of the earth’s surface but store 30% of all soil carbon) but there is more evidence on how to protect and restore upland peat than lowland peat.

We've set out to increase our collective understanding of lowland peatland restoration, on greenhouse gases, water quality and wildlife, working with scientists, statutory agencies and others and making sure we don’t impact our neighbours.