Volunteering day at Holiday Moss, Rainford

For this year's volunteering day, the Chorley Office took part in aiding the restoration of peatland for The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside at Holiday Moss, Rainford. The 3-hectare site is all that remains of a once much larger site, now lost to agriculture, forestry, and landfill. 98% of the UK's lowland raised peat bogs have been lost.

Restoration work of Holiday Moss started in November 2021. The rewetting work, which raised the water table over 1m, and first round of planting has kick started the journey back to full-functioning peat bog. We were a small cog in a much bigger project last week, pulling invasive plants such as birch and other bracken to allow the water in the bog to stay in the bog, not feed the invasive plants. We were able to clear out a large part of the bog so subsequent planting, which will enhance peat formation can take place in the coming months.

Peat bogs are vital in the fight against climate change as they remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the ground. We had a brilliant (yet tiring!) day in Rainford. The weather held off from normal November forecasts to give us a day of chilly sunshine where we got to work with a great team who were really informative and encouraging when our delicate office hands and backs got a good workout!

The Wildlife Trusts have multiple volunteering opportunities, if you would like to find out more then please see their website: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/volunteering-opportunities.