The Uplands Management Group set up a Task & Finish Group to investigate and report on examples of the range of techniques being used in England to regenerate the cover of Sphagnum mosses on deep peat, with a view to covering areas of bare peat, diversifying vegetation, where Sphagnum
was absent or sparse, and restoring active bog function, biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. The main recommendation from the Report is to prepare guidance, aimed at practitioners, to cover the range of techniques that are available for increasing the amount of Sphagnum mosses on deep peat.
There is a huge amount of useful information in this report. Many upland commons have extensive areas of blanket bog, so looking forward we will be requesting the Uplands Management Group to explore how to restore peat while keeping grazing on commons. For farmers with hefted flocks suggestions to not graze the common for 1-3 years are not a valid option. We would like to know what techniques would be successful on actively grazed common land? To date, many of the examples in the report understandably are on moors where the owner has control over the grazing in a way that is not possible or even desirable on a common where retaining commoning is a a key outcome.
