National Trust brings nature back to an area twice the size of Manchester… in less than a decade

image for illustration: Peter Badcock

The National Trust has achieved its aim of creating or restoring 25,000 hectares (61,776 acres) of priority habitat (habitats of principal importance for wildlife and supporting ecosystems) on its land by 2025, a target set in line with the charity’s conservation goals announced in 2015.

The National Trust writes:

This focused conservation work has included creating or restoring habitats such as peatlands, meadows, wetlands, woodlands and saltmarsh, complementing the work on the conservation charity’s nationally important protected sites that already account for 40 per cent of the Trust’s 250,000 hectare (1,000 square mile) landholding. Looking after these habitats and ensuring their health is of vital importance for helping tackle the nature and climate crises, including halting the decline of species by making more space for nature as well as adapting landscapes to deal with worsening climate impacts.

Ben McCarthy, Head of Nature and Restoration Ecology at the National Trust says: ‘Our focus on restoring our most important habitats to help our precious wildlife is not only contributing towards national conservation targets but is also a critical response to the challenge of climate change. Our approach uses nature-based solutions to both the nature and climate emergencies with a focus on restoring carbon rich habitats such as peatlands and improving or creating new woodlands as well as adaptive approaches to managing the landscapes we work in, including restoring rivers. Much of the work carried out by our countryside and ranger teams on the ground has focused on expanding our existing habitats to buffer them from external pressures as well as creating better and bigger areas of habitat. Combined with our work to create new homes for nature, this approach makes our landscapes more connected for wildlife, allowing species to move more easily across the landscape.’

Ben continued: ‘The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world and we are doing all we can to help reverse this decline. The effort to create and restore over 25,000 hectares is fantastic to see and is testament to the hard work of our teams on the ground, tenants and partners. Some of the work we’ve done together with our tenant farmers to make more space for nature includes restoring big, bushy hedgerows, creating wildflower margins or adopting extensive grazing regimes to help kick-start natural processes to help wildlife we’ve also focused on the recovery of some of the UK’s most important wildlife. The UK is internationally important for its ancient trees and parklands that are enjoyed by so many at sites such as Fountains Abbey in north Yorkshire, Croft Castle in Herefordshire and Lanhydrock in Cornwall, and through this work we were able to introduce innovative management to sustain these ancient habitats for rarities such as Oak polypore fungus (Piptoporus quercinus) and birds like the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.’

Analysis of the data collated as part of the project reveals that the main habitats restored or created over the past nine years include:

  • 9,000ha (22,239 acres) of blanket bog where the Trust has re-wetted peatlands through methods such as planting sphagnum moss and gully blocking to help lock away carbon
  • 5,000ha (12,355 acres) of wood pasture and parkland with a focus on managing these ancient habitats to sustain their ecological continuity
  • 3,500ha (8,649 acres) of meadow restoration to reintroduce wildflowers to create a colourful tapestry across our landscapes to particularly benefit pollinators
  • 2,500ha (6,178 acres) of lowland woodland to support some of the UK’s most threatened mammals such as dormice and Barbastelle bats
  • 1,500ha (3,707 acres) of upland heaths, restoring a rich mosaic of heath, scrub and grasslands by kick-starting natural processes with the creation of bare, open ground and improving grazing pressure by changing the mix of animals on site

Ben continued: ‘In many ways our work has just begun. Due to the nature of some of these projects we won’t see the full benefits for some decades or even centuries particularly in the case of peatland restoration and tree planting; but what is key is that solid foundations are in place which we can build on to help reverse the decline in our wildlife. We will continue to sustainably manage these new habitats, monitoring their recovery trajectories so they can reach their full potential.’

Two of the largest projects underway are blanket bog restoration and creation projects in the Peak District in the Midlands and at Marsden Moor in Yorkshire. In the Peak District over 5,000 hectares (12,355 acres) of blanket bog are now under restoration. Although work began to restore the peatlands over 30 years ago, this focused work has been ongoing since 2015 to create the right conditions to prevent the erosion of peat and to create healthy blanket bog where a mix of moorland plants like sphagnum moss, heather, bilberry, and cotton grass grow and where wildlife can live and feed. ? As part of the project the team has created over 10,000 gully blocks with dams of various sorts and planted around a million sphagnum moss plug plants. This work is creating homes for wildlife like dragonflies, golden plover, frogs and lizards. The restoration work is not only protecting the area’s precious peat but also mitigates flood risk and ensures the landscape is more resilient in our changing climate.

Craig Best, General Manager for the Peak District, said: ‘This work is critical. This year alone, we’ve seen dramatic weather events seriously affect thousands of households across the Midlands and beyond. As we’re faced with the likelihood of more significant bouts of extreme rainfall, it is a stark reminder that we need urgent action to increase the resilience of the land in a changing climate. In good condition, the moorlands of the Peak District can help reduce the impact of climate change by slowing the flow of rainwater and reduce the risk of flooding for people living downstream, so it’s vital that we continue to do as much restoration as quickly as we can.’

On the National Trust estate at Marsden Moor, various schemes are underway that are turning back the clock on industrial pollution, intensive drainage and overgrazing, which has damaged the peatlands over centuries.? Work got underway in October 2018 on replanting bare and denuded patches of peat with sphagnum moss and other moorland specialist plants, helping the blanket bog habitat to begin a process of self-rejuvenation. This will significantly boost biodiversity and protect the estimated 1-1.5 million tonnes of carbon that are locked up in the moor’s peat.?

‘New peat only ‘grows’ at a rate of 1mm a year so this is slow work, but it’s vital in our efforts in tackling climate change and towards repairing natural ecosystems,’ says Rosie Holdsworth, countryside manager at Marsden. ‘By restoring our peatlands, we are stopping the release of carbon into the atmosphere as well as providing a lifeline for the rare insect and bird species that are native to this moorland.’?? She adds: ‘Habitat restoration is an ongoing and iterative process; we’re making great progress with repairing our peatlands, but the job is never really finished.’

Working with partners, including Moors for the Future and Yorkshire Water, the West Yorkshire countryside team have carried out restoration measures across 2,000 hectares (4,942 acres) of the moor to date. The restoration process is set to accelerate this autumn, thanks to a new sphagnum nursery located at the Marsden offices. ‘It means we can propagate these precious and vital plants in-house. This helps funding go further, ensures local provenance and reduces transportation miles – a win-win situation,’ says Holdsworth.?? Meanwhile, Landscapes for Water, a partnership project between National Trust with Yorkshire Water, has overseen the planting of 65,000 trees on the fringes of Marsden Moor since February 2024, ensuring new habitat for woodland birds, invertebrates and mammals. The trees will form part of 300 hectares (741 acres) of new woodlands being created across the South Pennines in the next five years, and are among two million native species being planted as part of the White Rose Forest, the community forest for North and West Yorkshire.

‘Thousands of years ago these upland areas would have had many more trees than they do now,’ says Jess Yorke, project manager for Landscapes for Water. ‘By planting more native trees in key areas, we can help tackle climate change and?create wildlife corridors that will enable species to colonise new areas, migrate safely and boost genetic diversity, strengthening their populations for generations to come.’?

In Wales, the Trust has revived and restored 193 hectares (476.9 acres) of meadows across Pembrokeshire over the past five year so plants, pollinators and other wildlife can thrive.?? The works were part of the first ever Wales-wide meadow conservation and restoration project, Magnificent Meadows Cymru, that began in 2019 working in partnership with Plantlife Cymru and the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare. The collaborative goal of the project was to improve meadows for the benefit of nature and people. By the end of 2022 a total of 25 sites cared for by the Trust in Wales, 213 hectares (526 acres), or an area of around 50 times as big as the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, of species rich grasslands were either created or restored. One of the sites at Southwood showed a threefold increase in wildflowers (such as lady’s bedstraw) in just 12 months after green hay seeding.

And, in Northern Ireland, meadow restoration is underway at 15 sites including Minnowburn (on Belfast’s urban fringe), Downhill (North Coast) and Castle Coole (Fermanagh) with a total of 175 hectares (432 acres) now created or restored.? The key benefits of this work are that it improves the diversity of wildflowers, connects fragmented habitats and improves carbon storage, while attracting more wildlife such as vitally important pollinators and farmland birds. The teams in Northern Ireland have also planted 193,000 trees since 2015, including at Crom (Fermanagh), Greenhill (Co. Down) and Avish (North Coast), with a target of 500,000 by 2030. Restoration is also underway in over 150 hectares (371 acres) of woodland, with the removal of invasive species at Mount Stewart, with the goal that 500 hectares (1236 acres) will be under restoration by 2030. To help support tree planting efforts, the team has also established a tree nursery at Mount Stewart to ensure supply of local provenance seed for future tree planting initiatives.

Harry Bowell, Land and Nature Director at the National Trust concluded: ‘Ensuring we have a wide range of complex habitats is key to tackling the climate and nature crises. Following John Lawton’s[8] much lauded principles of making space for nature by creating better, bigger, more and joined up spaces, we can help ensure that wildlife have places to ‘move’ if they are placed under threat. These joined up landscapes are also great for people too – allowing us to benefit from cleaner air and water – but also giving us a greater diversity of wildlife and landscapes to learn about and enjoy.’

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