Peatland Research Unit (PRU)

Over the last decade the PRU has been involved in a wide range of peatland-related research concerned with conservation evaluation, impact studies, establishment of monitoring programmes and provision of conservation management guidance. It has carried out work for government wildlife agencies, other government departments, environmental NGOs, and local communities both in Britain and abroad.

PRU Activities (current and most recent first)

• RSPB Carbon and Peatlands Review
Richard is in the process of preparing a review for the RSPB on the role of peatlands in carbon storage. The review brings together current understanding of peatland management and carbon balance. Once completed the review will be accompanied by a series of workshops and short communications.

• Plantlife International Munsary Peatland Reserve Monitoring
Following the establishment of a monitoring baseline at Plantlife’s Munsary Peatlands Nature Reserve, in Caithness, northern Scotland. The ERG have re-visited the reserve to carry out repeat monitoring of the permanent quadrats and WALRAGs (to measure water table fluctuations). See the Plantlife website for more information about Munsary Peatlands.

• Critical review of Lewis Wind Power Environmental Impact Statements (EIS)
The PRU was contracted by the RSPB to provide a critique of the LWP EIS with particular reference to the peatland habitat. This work explores issues such as hydrology, habitat mapping and assignment of NVC types as well as carbon losses and peat stability. The assessment of the EIS included an intensive period of fieldwork on Lewis to collect field data. This work for the RSPB has already generated two publications - Lindsay (2005) and Lindsay (2007) - full references for which can be found listed under publications. A final report is due for publication shortly. See RSPB website for this and other background information.

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• Provision of Expert Witness Evidence : Natural England
During 2007 and 2008, Natural England undertook prosecution of a landowner in northern England because two unauthorised tracks had been constructed across an internationally-protected wildlife site. The Peatland Research Unit was contracted by Natural England to provide an expert witness statement about the nature and extent of the damage, and included a period of fieldwork on the site to assess this damage. On 28 January, at Durham Crown Court, the defendant pleaded guilty to three offences relating to the illegal construction of a new track, car park and associated drainage at the Lune Forest Site of Special Scientific Interest. Wemmergill Moor Ltd was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay Natural England's prosecution costs of £237,548. Judge Brian Forster also imposed a restoration order.
See: http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/press/releases2008/280108.htm

• Conservation strategy for mires and peatlands in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
The PRU has contributed to a major international workshop based in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, to develop a conservation and wise-use strategy for the mires and peatlands of this region. The workshop was organised by the Subsecretaria de Recursos Naturales, Provincia de Tierra del Fuego e Islas del Atlantico Sur, the Consejo Federal de Inversionses, and the International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG). It involved looking at a wide range of peatland sites in the area – an area visited extensively by Charles Darwin during his voyage on HMS Beagle – and meeting with local developers, government officials, and peatland scientists, to discuss the need for, and the nature of, a strategy for the conservation and wise use of Tierra del Fuego’s peatland heritage. See the IMCG website for further information about the peatlands of Tierra del Fuego.

• Restoration strategies for mires and peatlands in Japan and Germany
The PRU has contributed to two major international workshops, based first in Germany, then later that same year in Japan, with the aim of developing a series of restoration strategies for damaged mire and peatland sites in both countries. The workshop involved looking at a wide range of peatland sites in the Munich region and southern Bavaria, then the northern part of Hokkaido, northern Japan, and finally southern Honshu. The participants met with local developers, local farmers, government officials, and peatland scientists, to discuss restoration techniques and restoration strategies, particularly within the context of techniques and strategies being adopted elsewhere in the world.

• Munsary Peatlands Reserve : Establishment of baseline monitoring programme
In 2002 the PRU was contracted by Plantlife International to establish a monitoring/surveillance programme at Plantlife’s Munsary Peatlands Nature Reserve, in Caithness, northern Scotland. Work to establish the monitoring baseline was carried out over two field seasons in the summers of 2002 and 2005. This work included site mapping (including macrotope and mesotopes as well as NVC mapping), establishment of permanent quadrats and the installation of WALRAGs (to measure water table fluctuations). During the 2002 survey, the team also discovered the largest known colony of Saxifraga hirculus in Britain. A monitoring programme for the species was established during the 2005 field season. This has led to further work, described below. The monitoring baseline work has beern described in Lindsay et al. (2003) and Lindsay and Freeman (2005) listed above. See the Plantlife website for more information about Munsary Peatlands.

• Autecology and genetic variation of Saxifraga hirculus at Plantlife International’s Munsary Peatlands Nature Reserve
This work includes a review of what is known of the autecology of the species, and the collection of samples and subsequent genetic typing of the Munsary colony. It is intended that the work will include sampling from sites in the Pennines and Northern Ireland, Finland and Russia. In partnership with Plantlife International a Saxifraga hirculus information exchange site has been established, with a membership drawn from across Europe.

• Restoration potential for Lochar Mosses, Dumfries & Galloway
The research programme for the Forestry Commission (Scotland) involved assessing the restoration potential of a large raised mire complex in SW Scotland. The Lochar Mosses represent one of the largest lowland raised mire complexes in Britain, but it was almost wholly covered with plantation forestry in the late 1960s. The first rotation is currently being felled and Forestry Commission and Scottish Natural Heritage wished to know whether there was potential to restore the site to bog rather than re-plant with conifers. A programme of fieldwork, ecological assessment and literature review was therefore undertaken to determine the current condition of the complex and assess the likelihood of restoration success using current best-practice restoration science.

• Production of Strategy & Action Plan for Mire and Peatland Conservation in Central Europe
The PRU has worked in partnership with Wetlands International, the International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG), the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands, the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Denmark, and partner countries, to produce a Strategy and Action Plan for the conservation of mires and peatlands in eight countries within central Europe. With Dr Olivia Bragg, University of Dundee, as co-author, this document now draws together the issues facing mire and peatland conservation in these countries – Belarus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine – and sets out a series of actions designed to promote the conservation and wise use of mires and peatlands within a strategic framework within these nations.
See: http://www.wetlands.org/publication.aspx?ID=c7c53f58-d443-4936-8353-8e0f86db6035

• Evaluation of causes, nature and consequences of the October 2003 bog-slide, Derrybrien, Co Galway, Ireland
In October 2003, a catastrophic bog-slide occurred close to the village of Derrybrien, Co. Galway, during construction of Ireland’s largest windfarm development. Local residents, concerned that further slides might occur, commissioned the PRU to carry out an evaluation of the bog-slide, undertake a critical assessment of the original Environmental Impact Statements forming part of the planning proposal, and assess the engineering assessments made subsequent to the bog-slide on behalf of the developer. The site of the bog-slide was visited, a literature search was conducted, the EIS documents and the engineering assessments were reviewed, a GIS model of the development created, and a report produced. This report now forms part of the evidence being used by the European Commission to prosecute the Irish Government in the European Court of Justice over the case. For further information about the Derrybrien bogslide and local concerns, see the Woodland League website. For a review of the wider issues involving windfarms and peat see New Scientist article by Ed Douglas 'The hidden cost of wind turbines' (8th July 2006).

• Aucheninnes Moss, Dumfries & Galloway – a conservation assessment
The PRU was contacted in 2003 by Buglife – the Invertebrate Conservation Trust – requesting a conservation evaluation of Aucheninnes Moss in the light of a proposal to use half the site for a major landfill repository. A field visit was carried out and an evaluation made on the basis of the context of this site within SW Scotland. This has led to ongoing discussions about the best approaches to conservation mitigation that might be adopted should the development proceeed. For futher information about the campaign to save Aucheninnes Moss, see Buglife website.

• The conservation of Nakaikemi Mire, Tsuruga City, Japan
Through its involvement with the Ramsar Convention, the PRU has been invited to speak twice at major conferences in Japan concerning the conservation of Nakaikemi Mire, a remarkable basin mire that has a peat archive that contains a climate record extending back more than 100,000 years. The Osaka Gas Company was planning to build a Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) terminal across all but 5% of the site. As a result of a highly effective local campaign, and these conferences and their associated site visits attended by the national media, the site has now been handed over by Osaka gas Company to the City of Tsuruga as a Nature Reserve. For information about efforts to save Nakaikemi Mire, see the Jawan newsletter and the Nakaikemi Statement.

• The conservation evaluation of Zambala Mire, northern Spain
In 2002, the PRU was contacted by peatland ecologists in Spain who wished to have an evaluation of a peatland area recently discovered in the mountains of northern Spain. There was particular concern that the area was threatened with a windfarm development. Although a site visit was not possible in the time available, arrangements were made for ground-based stereo photographs of the site to be taken by field surveyors, and these were sent to the PRU together with field survey data. On this basis, it was possible to identify that the peatland was a small area of blanket mire – one of the most southerly reported in Europe – and the site was subsequently saved from the windfarm development.

Facilities

The PRU possesses, or has access to, a Russian peat corer, GPS units, a total station for surveying, ground penetrating radar, GIS facilities, an extensive colour aerial photo collection, DNA profiling facilities, HPLC facilities, and a range of digital still and video cameras.

Partnerships

The PRU has worked, or is working, in partnership with:

Natural England
Scottish Natural Heritage
Countryside Council for Wales
Forestry Commission (Scotland)
Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Plantlife International
Buglife – the Invertebrate Conservation Trust
The Wildlife Trusts Partnership
Thorne & Hatfield Moors Forum
Wetlands International (Japan)
Wetlands International (Europe)
The Ramsar Bureau
The University of the Highlands and Islands
The University of Southampton
The University of Dundee
The International Mire Conservation Group

Staff

Head of Peatland Research Unit : Mr Richard Lindsay

Research Assistant : Mr Jamie Freeman

Research Assistant : Ms. Melissa Marr

Research Fellow : Mr Stuart Connop

Location

We are based in UEL’s Stratford campus which has excellent public transport links. Please click here to view a map.

Contact details

General inquiries to the Peatland Research Unit can be made to R.Lindsay@uel.ac.uk

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