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Digger demonstration at a peatland restoration event in Stirlingshire. Diggers are used to block ditches FOR PEAT’S SAKE! Megan Welford and Patrick Laurie explain the importance of peatland as a water and carbon store and biodiversity hotspot and why it's crucial that this habitat is restored First, we cut and burnt peat for fuel. Then we drained the peatlands to plant commercial woodland and graze sheep. Now, we are realising our mistake. Restoring peatland is crucial to Scotland’s mission to reduce 90 per cent of carbon emissions by 2050, to restore biodiversity and to support farm businesses. Peatland covers just 20 per cent of Scotland but stores 25 per cent more carbon than the rest of the vegetation in the UK put together, according to Scottish Natural Heritage. Peatlands are home to many of Scotland’s threatened species of plants and animals, yet up to 80 per cent of those peatlands are damaged, and degraded peatland emits carbon, pollutes rivers and increases the risk of f looding. “The general benefits of restoring peatland are huge,” says Farm Conservation Advisor, Richard Lockett. “Carbon storage, f lood prevention and habitat restoration: that’s why the Scottish government is putting so much money into it.” Since 2012, the Scottish government has been funding Restoring pleatland is crucial to Scotland's mission to reduce 90 per cent of arbon emissions by 2050 Scottish Natural Heritage-led project Peatland ACTION, which has restored some 15,000 hectares of peatland so far. Restoration in action Malcolm Hay of upland sheep and livestock farm Edinglassie, near Huntly in Aberdeenshire, applied for a peatland restoration grant and in 2015 Scottish Natural Heritage came in and undertook the work as a f lagship project. He explains: “They went in with diggers, blocked up the gullies, got the vegetation back into the bare ground and spread brash to reseed with sphagnum moss and heather so the soil wouldn’t blow away. They installed fencing to prevent snowdrifts and stabilise windswept areas. Now you can’t even see where the trenches were. We can put the sheep out and know they won’t disappear. Before, they’d fall in and we wouldn’t even know what had happened to them.” Many of those trenches started life as 10-inch drainage ditches, says Farming and Land Use Manager, Patrick Laurie of 20 Organic Farming Spring 2019 Soil Association Scotland’s Farming with Nature programme, but through 'silent erosion' some have become caverns that can be 10 foot deep. “From the surface it looks like a small hole but you can stand underneath in the dark,” says Laurie. “The sides can slump, and then you realise your hill is hollow.” Farmers sometimes call the sheep and even cattle they lose down these holes ‘blackloss’. Wild bird chicks are also lost to the dark, costing conservation efforts and the sporting industry. “A gamekeeper close to Edinglassie told me about watching grouse chicks dying in the ditches in the 1990s,” says Laurie. “Black grouse and curlew chicks are very fragile in their first few weeks and can easily fall in and get washed away. They’re unaccounted for. Curlew are ‘red listed’ by conservationists and many parts of Scotland have lost more than two thirds of their curlews since 1994, with the loss of peatland habitats being the driving force in this decline. Golden plover and dunlin love peatland and have seen their habitat intensively reduced.” The harsh, low-nutrient soils of peat bogs support a unique plant biodiversity such as sundew, bog bean and many species of SCOT L A N D I G H T TO P: R SP B RB EN TA L L (R SP B I M AG E S .CO M I G H T: EL E A N O R RTO P A N D
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sphagnum moss, which in turn support wildlife. “Restoring peatland involves planting sphagnum moss, which stores water and provides habitat for crane f lies that wading bird chicks love to eat.” Restoring peatland also involves filling in the ditches and building peat dams, which helps ‘re-wet’ the damaged, dry peat. “Adding the peat dams,” says Farm and Conservation Advisor Sandra Stewart, “raises the water levels in the ditches and slows the water f low, improving natural f lood management by preventing f lash Black grouse chicks are vulnerable in their first weeks of life Pools on peatland support amphibians and a rich diversity of insect life Malcolm Hay of Edinglassie successfully applied for a peatland restoration grant f looding, for example. The resulting pools support amphibians, dragonflies and valuable pollinating insects.” Peaty water time bomb Rainwater rushing over barren uplands washes degraded peat straight into the rivers, which is a manifold problem for fish, farmers and the water system. “It’s ironic,” muses Laurie, “that much of the allure of the Scotch whisky industry revolves around our peaty water, when in fact that’s an indicator of degraded peatland!” Peatland particles in the water must be removed for us to be able to drink it, which costs water companies millions of pounds a year in treatment. “Most of the organics in water comes from degraded peatland,” says Jared Stewart, a technical lead for Scottish Water, who agrees that millions is an acceptable estimation of the financial cost. “The removal of organics during the water treatment process carries a financial burden from energy and chemical costs as well as the disposal of the resultant sludge.” “Dark-coloured water is actually a ticking timebomb,” says Laurie. “If it’s in the water it’s not on the hills, so that’s organic carbon that’s being unlocked, with the potential to release greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. And it’s not good for fish. When the water is darker it warms up faster and the fish can die from heat stress. Peat is a sponge that soaks up water and lets it dribble out, which is what the fish need – a f lood of murky water straight off the hills is terrible for migratory fish. A lot of money has been invested in wild fisheries, particularly on the more famous rivers in Scotland. Land managers rely on visiting anglers to make this investment worthwhile, so there’s an added incentive to take care of the land sustainably.” Catchment restoration Of course, the challenge when it comes to water is that it travels over a large area, so restoration at a catchment level is crucial, continues Laurie. “If you look at the River Spey, for example, it begins with water trickling down from the Monadhliath Mountains. One potential model for involving fisheries in peatland restoration is to improve links between the fisheries downstream and the smaller tributaries in the high hills. The challenge is stitching the river catchment together.” Malcolm Hay agrees. “There are district-wide benefits to doing peatland restoration, but it doesn’t really work unless everybody does it. It’s about fixing a massive, human-made scar. And sometimes, there’s more to life than economic return.” Farming with nature Soil Association Scotland’s Farming with Nature programme runs events for farmers and land managers to raise awareness of peatland and help them restore it. Some of the work needed to reverse historical drainage and overgrazing is still very new, but in association with our funders, Scottish government, RSPB and Scottish Water, Soil Association Scotland is working to gather the latest scientific information and translate it into action on the ground. Megan Welford is Communications and Public Affairs (Farming and Land Use) Officer at Soil Association Scotland mwelford@soilassociation.org Patrick Laurie is Farming and Land Use Manager for Soil Association Scotland’s Farming with Nature plaurie@soilassociation.org 21 Organic Farming Spring 2019

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Digger demonstration at a peatland restoration event in Stirlingshire. Diggers are used to block ditches

FOR PEAT’S SAKE! Megan Welford and Patrick Laurie explain the importance of peatland as a water and carbon store and biodiversity hotspot and why it's crucial that this habitat is restored

First, we cut and burnt peat for fuel. Then we drained the peatlands to plant commercial woodland and graze sheep. Now, we are realising our mistake. Restoring peatland is crucial to Scotland’s mission to reduce 90 per cent of carbon emissions by 2050, to restore biodiversity and to support farm businesses. Peatland covers just 20 per cent of Scotland but stores 25 per cent more carbon than the rest of the vegetation in the UK put together, according to Scottish Natural Heritage. Peatlands are home to many of Scotland’s threatened species of plants and animals, yet up to 80 per cent of those peatlands are damaged, and degraded peatland emits carbon, pollutes rivers and increases the risk of f looding. “The general benefits of restoring peatland are huge,” says Farm Conservation Advisor, Richard Lockett. “Carbon storage, f lood prevention and habitat restoration: that’s why the Scottish government is putting so much money into it.” Since 2012, the Scottish government has been funding

Restoring pleatland is crucial to Scotland's mission to reduce 90 per cent of arbon emissions by 2050

Scottish Natural Heritage-led project Peatland ACTION, which has restored some 15,000 hectares of peatland so far. Restoration in action Malcolm Hay of upland sheep and livestock farm Edinglassie, near Huntly in Aberdeenshire, applied for a peatland restoration grant and in 2015 Scottish Natural Heritage came in and undertook the work as a f lagship project. He explains: “They went in with diggers, blocked up the gullies, got the vegetation back into the bare ground and spread brash to reseed with sphagnum moss and heather so the soil wouldn’t blow away. They installed fencing to prevent snowdrifts and stabilise windswept areas. Now you can’t even see where the trenches were. We can put the sheep out and know they won’t disappear. Before, they’d fall in and we wouldn’t even know what had happened to them.” Many of those trenches started life as 10-inch drainage ditches, says Farming and Land Use Manager, Patrick Laurie of

20 Organic Farming Spring 2019

Soil Association Scotland’s Farming with Nature programme, but through 'silent erosion' some have become caverns that can be 10 foot deep. “From the surface it looks like a small hole but you can stand underneath in the dark,” says Laurie. “The sides can slump, and then you realise your hill is hollow.” Farmers sometimes call the sheep and even cattle they lose down these holes ‘blackloss’. Wild bird chicks are also lost to the dark, costing conservation efforts and the sporting industry. “A gamekeeper close to Edinglassie told me about watching grouse chicks dying in the ditches in the 1990s,” says Laurie. “Black grouse and curlew chicks are very fragile in their first few weeks and can easily fall in and get washed away. They’re unaccounted for. Curlew are ‘red listed’ by conservationists and many parts of Scotland have lost more than two thirds of their curlews since 1994, with the loss of peatland habitats being the driving force in this decline. Golden plover and dunlin love peatland and have seen their habitat intensively reduced.” The harsh, low-nutrient soils of peat bogs support a unique plant biodiversity such as sundew, bog bean and many species of

SCOT L A N D

I G H T TO P: R SP B

RB EN TA L L (R SP B I M AG E S .CO M

I G H T: EL E A N O R

RTO P A N D

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