Helicopters used to help restore peatlands in the Cairngorms National Park
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Conservation work funded by Peatland ACTION is restoring vital carbon stores on Abernethy Nature Reserve.
Peatlands are internationally important as not only are they home to a whole host of rare and unusual wildlife but they are also the world’s largest terrestrial carbon store – storing more carbon than all the UK’s forests combined.
This habitat is found across the Cairngorms National Park, particularly on the higher ground where blanket bogs form.
Sadly, much of it is in a heavily degraded condition, causing the loss of carbon and threatening the species that rely on them.
But thanks to the support of Peatland ACTION, a NatureScot partnership initiative funded by Scottish Government, work has been going on to repair historic damage on a degraded and actively eroding section of blanket bog in the remotest of locations on RSPB Scotland’s Abernethy nature reserve, 800 metres up in the Cairngorms.
With the instrumental oversight from the Cairngorms National Park Authority’s Peatland ACTION Project Officer, contractor MNV Consulting has been working over 88 hectares where large areas of bare peat exist along with severe gullying and peat hags on An Lurg.
This site forms part of a priority habitat within the Cairngorms Connect area that the partnership will be working to restore in stages, as part of a 20-year programme of work to restore approximately 1,500 hectares of peatland.
An RSPB Scotland spokeswoman said: "The damage on this remote hill has been linked to historic high grazing pressure from deer and sheep.
"Without intervention, this degraded peat bog is susceptible to erosion from rainfall, as well as releasing carbon into the atmosphere.
"Following a two day journey along forest tracks in RSPB Scotland’s Abernethy reserve to get to An Lurg, excavator machinery was used to reprofile the peat hags and gullies, some of which are two metres tall, and create bunds to help re-wet the peat.
"This work increases the ability of the bog to retain water and slows the water’s flow, which reduces erosion and helps to keep this important resource on site.
"Due to the isolated location, helicopters were used to transfer materials to the site, such as stones used to build dams to reduce water flow.
"The use of helicopters allows materials to be transferred to the site quickly and without potential damage to the surrounding sensitive areas and the wildlife inhabiting it.
"These restoration works will not only help to reduce carbon emissions, as the restored bog will store carbon, but will also result in improved water quality as sedimentation will be reduced and the water table in the blanket bog raised."
Funding from Peatland ACTION also facilitated the collection of water samples for chemical analysis as part of the wider project of peatland restoration on the plateau.
Samples have been taken in the Faeshellach burn and the Allt Bheadhair, which are tributaries of the River Nethy, which is in turn a tributary of the River Spey.
This data is being collected as baseline before restoration commences within the relevant catchments on the peatland plateau and will enable project leaders to analyse any improvement in the water quality.
