Water and wetlands

Destruction of peat bogs

What is the issue?

RSPB Forsinard reserve, bog pool with cotton grass, sphagnum etc

Lowland raised peatbogs are one of the UK's rarest and most vulnerable habitats. 94% of their original extent has been lost. Less than 6,000 ha remain in a near-natural condition.

These bogs support rich and rare wildlife communities. Several species of Sphagnum bog mosses form the characteristic vegetation, a richly-hued wetland carpet of vivid greens, ochres and reds. Other specialist bog plants include cotton grasses, bog bean, bog rosemary, bog asphodel and the carnivorous sundews, butterworts and bladderworts.

Raised bogs are important wintering areas for many birds such as hen harriers, merlins and pink-footed geese; in the summer dunlins and golden plovers breed far outside their more usual upland haunts.

Two of the best-known sites, Thorne Moors and Hatfield Moors in Yorkshire, demonstrate the staggering species richness of bogs, with over 3,000 insects, 800 flowering plants and hundreds of kinds of mosses, liverworts, lichens and fungi; their special birds include nightjars and nightingales.

The RSPB has campaigned against industrial peat extraction, the major threat to UK raised bogs, for many years, in partnership with other wildlife organisations in the Peatlands Campaign Consortium

Raised bogs are also an astonishing historical treasure trove. The waterlogged conditions arrest decay and preserve the contents of the bog. Ancient trackways, tools, and other objects - including human bodies - found in peat bogs have given us new insights into our ancestors' lives. Detailed analysis of pollen and other plant remains brings understanding of past climate and vegetation, stretching back almost to the last great ice age.

The RSPB has campaigned against industrial peat extraction, the major threat to UK raised bogs, for many years, in partnership with other wildlife organisations in the Peatlands Campaign Consortium. This has brought an early end to peat extraction on several bogs important for wildlife, including Ballynahone Bog in Northern Ireland, Fenns and Whixall Mosses on the England/Wales border and Flanders Moss in Scotland.

In February 2002, Ł17 million of Government funding secured an early end to peat extraction at Thorne Moors, Hatfield Moors and Wedholme Flow - the UK's three most notorious peat extraction sites.

Yet damaging extraction continues on other nationally and internationally important wildlife sites in the UK. The RSPB is also concerned that the progress being made to end peat extraction in the UK may simply shift our environmental problems to other countries, if continuing consumer demand is met through increased peat imports. In England, a dozen sites are being worked for peat, half of which are SSSIs.

In Scotland, four of 20 worked sites are SSSIs. In Northern Ireland, commercial extraction, largely for consumer fuel, continues on peatbogs or Areas of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) quality.

The RSPB has therefore long championed the development and widespread use of peat alternatives. Our report Peatering Out, produced with English Nature, shows how peat use could be completely replaced in the UK by alternatives based on green compost.

Downloads

Peatering Out - towards a sustainable UK growing media industry (2.4Mb)
An English Nature and RSPB joint report based on commissioned research by horticultural consultants Rainbow Wilson Associates. The contributions of Cambridge Recycling Services Ltd and the Composting Association are also gratefully acknowledged.