Dorset Peat Partnership

The Discovery Grant helped prioritise these 16 sites as locations for restoration delivery. A further funding application to the NCPGS for restoration grant money was made in 2023. This was successful in securing £750,000 pounds of grant funding from NCPGS plus a further £100,000 of match funding from Wytch Farm Landscape Access and Enhancement Fund and £150,000 of additional partner match contributions, a total of one million pounds.

Dorset's peatlands are a mosaic of rich and diverse wetland habitats, bogs, mires and fen spread across our lowland heath habitats. They are internationally recognised for their ecological significance which include Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), Special Protection Areas (SPAs), RAMSAR and National Nature Reserve (NNR) status. These landscapes are homes to migratory birds, rare damselflies, amphibians and reptiles, special carnivorous plants like the sundew and insects like the raft spider who rely on the condition of these wet mire heath habitats to survive. 

Watch the short video: Plans to restore Dorset’s Precious Peat  to hear about Dorset's peatland mires, why they are important and the ambition of the Dorset Peat Partnership to restore these precious habitats. 

This film also highlights restoration work at Greenlands and Agglestone Mire, managed by National Trust Purbeck, and Oakers Bog, managed by Forestry England. These were the first sites completed during the initial year of restoration grant funding, between December 2023 and February 2024.

We have monitoring opportunities for volunteers to get involved with specific data collection programmes which need to be conducted throughout the year for:

• Hydrological data collection
• Vegetation surveying
• Fixed-point photography

If you would like to support the project, please email the Dorset Peat Partnership Project Manager at gherve@dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk.

Each site we deliver must be carefully planned to ensure that the right methods of restoration are implemented to have the maximum benefit for the site. The key principle for restoring peat is to reverse the drying out processes and rewet the habitat using nature-based interventions, to hold back water on each site allowing it to be stored for longer keeping vegetation in waterlogged conditions helps to form peat.

The restoration techniques which have been proposed and delivered across our multiple sites might consist of one or more of these nature-based solutions below 

Peat dams with heather bales

All our works have been undertaken by experienced wetland contractors who use specialised low ground pressure machinery on our sensitive sites to minimise ground damage and adhere to minimal biosecurity risks and negative impacts.

All our proposed delivery sites must consider the historical environment, and we must appoint a person qualified by the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA). They undertake a historical environment record (HER) consultation and complete a written desk-based assessment. The key remit is to identify if there is any likelihood that proposed works have any impact on the historic environment, which can cover monuments, medieval trackways, artefacts, boundary banks, or WW1 or WW2 ordnance. As land managers must ensure that sites are protected or mitigated against whilst undertaking any peatland works, which may involve soil movement and earth disturbance.

Evidencing the condition of a site and collecting data before any peatland works are undertaken is an important part of our evaluation. Monitoring sites is vital to understand if the works are achieving the restoration outcome intended and making a benefit to the habitat, water functioning and delivery the objectives which we set out to achieve which are broadly to:

• Restore a raised water table to encourage the expansion of Sphagnum mosses and mire vegetation plant communities.
• Reduce dominant tussocks of Molinia (Purple Moor Grass) keeping them in contact with the ground water levels
• Reinitiate peat forming plant communities, Sphagnum mosses and hold and store water within these wetland habitats for longer to resist the impacts of climate change and be resilient to wildfires. 

Monitoring water levels is carried out with the help of a small instrument called a datalogger which is placed inside a dip well tube, which buried into the ground by at least one metre. The loggers are automated to collect ground water levels and temperature data every 30 minutes, which is stored on the unit and downloaded annually, by a surveyor physically collecting the information from site using linked technology. 

Dataloggers

Dataloggers for some of our initial sites were installed in 2022/2023 and have been operating across sites for the last three years providing with us a reasonable baseline of information ahead of our first restoration works which took place from January 2024.  Records of our ground water level and temperature data collected up to 2026 has been analysed against local rainfall data, to build up sets of graphical information to further disseminate.

Vegetation Surveying

As one of our key objectives is to create a mosaic of wetland plant communities and carpets of Sphagnum mosses, recording vegetation species present is a good indicator pre and post restoration to note changes and success. A very robust quadrat methodology was adopted for all our sites working covering a 10m x 10m area, to record percentage of species cover. Then within this quadrat recording a further 2m x 2m quadrat of species present, which utilises vegetation identification skills for grasses, sedges and mosses. 

• University students looking to gain practical field experience.
• Local flora groups with specialist knowledge and interest in Dorset’s habitats.
• Volunteers who want to develop survey, monitoring and ecology skills.
• Local residents who are curious about what is happening in their area and want to help protect peatland habitats.

One of our regular volunteer activities is photographic monitoring. Volunteers are allocated a restored peatland site and take repeat fixed-point photographs every six months, in late spring and early winter. These images help us record changes in the habitat before and after restoration, building a clearer picture of how each site is recovering over time.

We have opportunities for volunteers to contribute to specific monitoring and data collection programmes throughout the year. These may include:

• hydrological data collection;
• vegetation surveying and mapping;
• fixed-point photography; and
• community engagement through wider peatland networks, events, films and learning opportunities.

The Volunteering Portal on Dorset Wildlife Trust webpage will provide current volunteering opportunities that you might wish to sign up for.