October with SWPP’s Farm Officer
It’s now just over a year since moving from North Wales to Devon to begin my role as Farm Officer for the South West Peatland Partnership and having settled in, I can honestly say that every day is different.
Like others across the UK and worldwide, the SWPP is working to slow the flow of water leaving upland landscapes and restore hydrological function to dried and degrading areas of important peat bogs. Aside from the ecological and environmental improvements, there are ways that peatland restoration benefits land users and farmers, and my role helps to explore and support that and address concerns or challenges.
Visiting an area of previous peatland restoration interventions, Dartmoor
My day-to-day within the team ranges from working with landowners who have previously had peatland restoration efforts on their land, to supporting SWPP project officers and farmers with information to help navigate Environmental Land Management schemes. There’s also always lots to keep up to date with in the wider research on the relationship between livestock grazing and rewetting of peat.
October began with one of our volunteer days up on Exmoor with a group from the Soil Association Certification visiting one of our active restoration sites. We spent the afternoon relocating sphagnum, moving peat-forming sphagnum moss out of one pool into another to help it spread through the site, and using spades to patch up holes in peat bunds to make them more effective at slowing the flow of water. Several of the staff members from the Soil Association are involved with auditing the Peatland Carbon Code and collaborative days like these are so important for useful conversations and keeping up-to-date with how our restoration work integrates with other sectors.
The following day was spent in Combe Martin with one of SWPP’s partners, South West Water. I attended the company’s Customer Roadshow speaking to customers about recent work, why water companies are well placed to work in partnership to deliver peatland restoration and the benefits these often-overlooked places provide for wildlife, drinking water catchments, communities and carbon storage.
I love being part of an incredibly inspirational and supportive team of people who, despite the often wet and dismal weather, never lose sight of the bigger ecological picture and long-term positive impact of our work.
It was an Exmoor themed week and it was finished off with a visit out to The Chains, a site owned by Exmoor National Park Authority (ENPA). We have been working with the grazier to use NoFence cattle collars to target purple moor grass, or Molinia. This grass can dominate degrading peatlands forming dense tussocks which dries out the peat further and makes it difficult for other peatland plants to grow. We met the grazier along with staff from Natural England and ENPA to review the use of the collars, which are now in their third year of use on The Chains, and to plan the grazing management for the next few years. Stumbling from tussock to tussock, the terrain underfoot is always challenging when stumbling from tussock to tussock, we were blessed with warm sunshine and a sighting of a great egret skulking along at the end of the day – an unusual spot for up on the moor.
In between being out and about my time during the month was taken up with carrying out maintenance on the 83 NoFence collars. After three grazing seasons of being bashed about in the soggy moorland, many of them need tending to, returning for repair of being replaced altogether. All collars require cleaning, batteries charged and applying Vaseline to connection points to see if they’re working and if they’ll be ready to go again in spring 2025.
Out with Soil Association Certification volunteers at an active peatland restoration site, Exmoor
It was great to finish off the month by attending a conference held by Foundation for Common Land which showcased the project’s work with a range of insightful talks and workshops focussing on the tradition of commoning. I always enjoy catching up with folk at these sorts of events to find out what others have been up to and see how our project fits in with the bigger picture of the moors, land users and landscape-scale restoration efforts.
October flew by, as it often does with a mixture of tasks and lots of time out of the office and I can’t quite work out where the last year has gone! I love being part of an incredibly inspirational and supportive team of people who, despite the often wet and dismal weather, never lose sight of the bigger ecological picture and long-term positive impact of our work.
If you have any questions or comments about peatland restoration, or the links with farming, please feel free to get in touch with us through our website, or follow along with the team out across the South West on social media.
- Eve Grayson, SWPP Farm Officer