Photo: Steven Barlow/IUCN UK Peatland Programme
by Clare Simm, IUCN UK Peatland Programme
The IUCN UK Peatland Programme champions peatlands and the incredible benefits they provide for nature and society. Peatlands play a really important role in conserving a wide range of unique and fascinating species, many of which are sadly endangered. Thankfully, restoring damaged peatland habitats and protecting them from unsustainable practices like peat extraction can help to ensure these species have a future. Here we have highlighted just a few of the species that call peatlands home.
Photo: Mike Waller/Plantlife
The bright yellow fen orchid is only found in two places in the UK – the dunes of Kenfig in South Wales, and the Broads in Norfolk. Although these two habitats would appear to be very different, they both offer the fen orchid its basic needs – short grassland and very wet ground (for at least part of the year in the case of the dunes) containing high levels of calcium.
The fen orchid came under threat in the 20th century when the fens were drained for agriculture and dug up for peat. It is one of the most endangered plants in Europe and, according to Plantlife, it is one of only nine flowering plants in Britain afforded a very high level of protection. Conservation efforts to protect it include proper land management and peatland restoration work, helping the population to naturally increase. The orchid has also been reintroduced to former sites where it is slowly becoming established.
Photo: Pete Quinn/IUCN UK Peatland Programme
When you think of the water vole, you probably don’t think of peatlands! However, these charismatic mammals are found in fens and areas of wet moorland, including bogs. Sadly, they are classed as endangered throughout Great Britain due to habitat loss through agricultural intensification, pollution and from predation by the introduced American mink, which were brought to the UK for fur farming. Between 1989 and 1998, the population is thought to have fallen by almost 90%.
There are recovery plans in places across the UK to improve their outlook including habitat restoration, reintroductions and monitoring. Until recently they have been overlooked in peatlands, where they are often present along ditches. The risk here is that ditches are often one of the first things to be modified during peatland restoration, so it is important that any plans include water vole surveys.
Photo: Steven Barlow/IUCN UK Peatland Programme
While many people think of curlews as winter coastal birds, their evocative, bubbling calls are synonymous with uplands in the summer, where the birds head to breed. Sadly, the chance of hearing the call of these large, curved-beaked waders is getting rarer as the species is endangered in the UK, and listed as Near Threatened on the global IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the UK the main threat is habitat loss, caused by activities such as planting conifer plantations on peatlands, and increased nest predation by generalist species.
Plantation forestry on peatlands is now widely accepted as having negative impacts and is seen as an unsustainable practice under forestry policy. Progress is being made in forest to bog restoration in the UK, thanks to the collaborative nature of the restoration community, returning biodiversity functions to peatlands. You can read more about this in the IUCN UK Peatland Programme’s Forest to Bog Restoration: Demonstrating Success publication.
Photo: Steven Barlow/IUCN UK Peatland Programme
One of the UK’s rarest dragonflies, white-faced darters are peatland-specialists. They love bog pools and territorial males will fiercely defend the perfect pond, where females lay their eggs on Sphagnum moss. Having declined dramatically in England, most of these endangered darters are now found in the highlands of Scotland.
White-faced darters are threatened by habitat loss as their bog habitats disappear. In the last 40 years, 90% of lowland peat bog in Britain has been lost due to agriculture, development, pollution and peat extraction. The good news is that conservation projects in the north-east of England have been trialling a combination of peatland restoration and translocation of white-faced darter larvae to help restore populations in areas where they are locally extinct – and so far, results look promising.
The IUCN UK Peatland Programme plays an important role in monitoring and advocating for peatland restoration in the UK. If you’re interested in finding about more about peatland biodiversity and why it matters, check out our species showcases. Each month throughout 2024 and beyond, we’ll be celebrating organisms large and small and the amazing organisations working to protect them.
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