Restoring the Blanket Bog of the Flow Country

Contractors using specialist low pressure machinery will create peat dams to block forest furrows and drains that were installed in the 1970’s/80’s when ill-advised tax incentives saw widespread planting of non-native confiers across large areas of Caithness/Sutherland. The work will raise the all-important water table and help restore the land back to natural UKBAP blanket bog habitat. Crushing the brash (felled tree branches) using the same contractors/machinery will improve the conditions for nesting wading birds who select open habitat to breed on. In total 292ha of UKBAP blanket bog habitat will be improved and the process of restoration accellerated considerably.