Having never been to a conference before me and Sian were both exited and apprehensive to find out what it entailed. The first day involved talks on Bog restoration methods used by Natural England, Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. Some methods included Bunding (using peat offcuts to hold water on the site), Sphagnum Moss seed spreading (to hold water in the system for longer), Deforestation and sight restoration. This involved clearing large areas of woodland and regenerating a once existent peat bog habitat (Foulshaw Moss).

The second day entailed some insightful talks from our European friends from Estonia, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia and Denmark on how they’ve been tackling bog restoration. Some interesting techniques such as raising ground level in Sweden, removing farming drains in Denmark or damming peatland in Estonia. This was then followed by site visits to our very own Foulshaw Moss in the afternoon. Having never been before both me and Sian were interested to see the site for the first time. We learnt a lot about the history of the sight when it was used for peat cutting and it was also good to see the techniques we’d learnt about the previous day put into practice.

On the third and final day we took part in various workshops linked to Bog restoration and maintenance. I took part in the peatland bog margins workshop and the peatland monitoring and maintenance workshop. Both of which provided a lot of information on their subjects and sparked lots of discussions with the attendees. We then visited the second of two sites (Roudsea Moss) where we learnt a little more about one of Natural England’s sites and what they’ve been doing to restore and maintain the bog.

Isaac

About the authors: Sian and Isaac were Apprentice Conservation Officers with the Trust from September 2016 to spring 2018