Protecting Somerset's Peat

peat landscape

Peter Cairns/2020VISION

Protecting Somerset's Peat

Peatlands are among the most carbon-rich ecosystems on Earth. In a natural condition, peatlands have a net cooling effect on climate, reduce flood risk, and support biodiversity.

What are peatlands?

Peatlands are amazing, wild places, home to rare and unusual plants, birds and insects. They are wetland landscapes characterised by waterlogged soils made of dead and decaying plants, called peat.

Peat forms at an incredibly slow rate, accumulating on average only 1mm a year - that means it takes 1,000 years for one metre of peat to form! The key component of peat is a moss called sphagnum, which forms multi-coloured carpets across the landscape and breaks down very slowly under the waterlogged conditions.

Why are peatlands important?

Our UK peatlands store an amazing 3.2 billion tonnes of carbon. When considered globally, this is even more impressive, as they cover just 3% of land area but in that pack 30% of all soil carbon! In a healthy state, they are also beautiful, dramatic landscapes, and provide homes for a range of rare and endangered wildlife.

But there is even more to peatlands, as they help to alleviate flooding, by slowing the flow of water and filter water, making it cleaner when it comes to our water processing plants - and eventually into our taps, with 70% of drinking water coming from upland areas dominated by peat.

A group of interested farmers walking out to see the restoration happening at Shapwick.

(c) Jemima Western

A group of interested farmers walking to see the restoration happening at Shapwick.

Somerset Peatland Partnership

Bringing peatland landowners, farmers, and communities together in Somerset.

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Colleagues from Somerset Wildlife Trust and ARCA labelling samples collected at Westhay Moor.

Identifying changes in the physical landscape and environment through time, using a hand-operated geoarchaeological borehole drilling technique. ARCA is a geoarchaeological consultancy based at the University of Winchester. Photo: Alison Hoare

Westhay Moor Peatland Restoration Project

The remaining peat at Somerset Wildlife Trust’s Westhay Moor nature reserve has been subject to drainage and peat extraction.

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Pool system on peat bog, Scotland

Pool system on peat bog, Forsinard, Flow Country, Sutherland, Scotland, June - Mark Hamblin/2020VISION

Somerset Wildlife Trust's position on peat extraction

The consequences of not taking action now will cost us for generations to come.

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Why should you care?

Sadly over 80% of the UK's peatlands are damaged - and when damaged, the peat becomes dried and exposed to the elements, and instead of storing and taking up carbon emits it back into the atmosphere as CO2. If just 5% more of our peatlands were to go, the amount of carbon lost would equate to the total annual UK man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore it's really important that we restore them back to health, so that they keep carbon locked up in the ground. 

The biggest driver for peat damage has been the drainage of peatlands in order to make them more productive for agriculture i.e. less waterlogged and better for growing crops. Other pressures on peatland include the extraction of peat for horticulture. This still continues today and Somerset, sadly, is one of the last places in England where commercial peat digging for compost continues. We are working hard with partners to bring about a complete ban on peat. 

Landscape view over Westhay Moor

Image: Emily Weatherburn

Peatland habitats

Most wetlands are peat-forming. When the ground is too wet for vegetation to decompose, a dark, organic matter called peat forms.

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A flock of wigeon at Catcott Lows National Nature Reserve

Wigeon (Anas penelope) flock coming in to land on partially frozen flooded marshland in winter, Catcott Lows National Nature Reserve, Somerset, UK - Nick Upton/2020VISION

Peatlands and Climate Change

A natural solution to the climate crisis. 

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Peat, Yorkshire

Peat, Yorkshire - Matthew Roberts

Case studies from Yorkshire and Wales

Read what the Yorkshire Peat Partnership and Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust are doing to restore peatland in Yorkshire and Wales.

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