Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve – Fen Restoration

Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve (SSSI and SAC) is a 350 hectare lowland raised mire (peat bog that has been restored by Cumbria Wildlife Trust over a period of 15 years following destruction caused by conifer planting, drainage and peat cutting. This project will improve the biodiversity of this site, which forms part of the Witherslack Mosses Special Area of Conservation, by creating 40 hectares of reedbed, a BAP priority habitat. The planting of Common Reed and other suitable fen plant species in to wet ground where the edge of the peat meets the mineral soil creates “Lagg Fen habitat”, an exceptionally rare habitat in the UK with no extensive examples known to exist.