New wetlands will bring wildlife back to forest

DELAMERE Forest has secured £12,500 in funding to help restore lost wetland wildlife habitat.

As part of the two-year Meres and Mosses scheme run by the Forestry Commission, 34 hectares of peatland basin within the forest is set to be re-wet, after being drained more than 80 years ago to make room for conifer plantations.

Delamere is a key wetland site in the UK, made up of more than 100 peatland basins, and the cash will boost the ecological project which has already restored seven hectares.

The scheme will also allow mosses, rare plants, invertebrates and amphibians to thrive, as the re-wetting process returns the land to a more natural state.

Oliver Thompson, forestry commission wildlife ranger at Delamere Forest, said: “So far, I have been able to re-wet five basins.

“We harvested the trees in the usual manner then I cleared the scrubland from the basins before blocking the exit drainage ditches.

“This should prevent water from leaving the basins, before allowing the peat to become saturated.

“It is great news that we have been able to secure the additional funding as this will enable us to re-wet a further 14 basins scattered around Delamere.

“Although there are more than 80 basins in the forest, we have not got the resources to re-wet them all and so we are choosing the basins with the most ecological value.”

Interpretation boards will be placed around the forest after the project is completed, to educate visitors about the work being undertaken, and the ecological aims for the project.

Graeme Prest, Forestry Commission area manager for north west, said: “This is a really exciting project that will help restore these basins to their natural state and therefore produce a wonderful habitat for wildlife.

“The Forestry Commission’s forests in the north west are home to an abundance of wildlife, including red squirrels, ospreys, rare butterflies and now even red kites.

“Although some trees were felled in Delamere to make way for this habitat restoration project, the Forestry Commission in north west plants half a million trees each year in the region – so we plant two trees for every tree we fell.”