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A Bog's Life tells the tale of a beloved Manchester peatland

Little Woolden Moss has been through a lot in its time, and new funding will help to tell its story.

Imagine living a thousand years and all the stories you could tell. Well, Little Woolden Moss has been around for thousands of years, and it has seen a lot. This lowland raised peat bog is one of the few fragments of peatland remaining from the once vast peat bog, stretching across 20km2 of Greater Manchester, known as Chat Moss.

Forming after the last Ice Age, circa 8,000 years ago, Little Woolden Moss has seen two World Wars, the last when it was lit up to act as a decoy for German bombers heading for Manchester. But it was industrial peat extraction that nearly saw its destruction, until The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester & North Merseyside bought the site and embarked on its restoration back in 2012.

Yellow digger extracts black peat against desolate background

Little Woolden Moss during commercial peat extraction for use in the horticultural industry

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Thanks to funding from the Greater Manchester Green Spaces Fund, accessed through the Greater Manchester Environment Fund, £28,250 has been allocated to create a timeline of Little Woolden Moss’ history, on a patch of degraded peat at the edge of the nature reserve. Different areas will be restored and planted up to show different stages in the formation of the peatland, including a small area of bare peat to demonstrate just how destructive peat extraction for horticulture is.

A Bog’s Life is all about engaging the community with our precious peatlands, and the timeline plot will be accessible by public footpath and include lots of signage to explain exactly what people are looking at.

Cross-leaved heath blooming with purple flowers

Cross-leaved heath by Ross Hoddinott/2020VISION

The project is also delighted to be working with Princes Park Garden Centre, a community interest company that provides day opportunities for adults with learning differences. Staff and service users at the garden centre will grow and nurture all of the 10,000 plugs of specialist peatland plants including sphagnum moss, cotton grass and heathers that will be used to create the timeline. The service users, along with other volunteers, will then be able to get hands-on planting up the different areas.

There will also be a series of community walks around the site, allowing attendees to get up close and personal with the peatland habitat, and see the progress of the timeline creation. The project will culminate with a community open day.

And if that weren’t enough the project will also include the restoration of an area of lowland heathland (a UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitat that naturally forms at the margin of peat bogs) that surrounds one of the most used public entrances to Little Woolden Moss. The area will be enhanced with the planting of lots of native pollinator-friendly species such as cross leaved heath, tormentil and devil’s bit scabious, creating a bright, colourful first impression to visitors and a haven for wildlife. 

Keep an eye on our social media, especially The Lancashire Peatlands Initiative Facebook page, for updates.

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