We use cookies to store information about how you use www.themeresandmosses.co.uk, such as the pages you visit.
Cookies
Bog-tastic!
April 21, 2021
Note: Please be aware that the link on this page take you to a third party website.
This week, the BBC’s 39 Ways to Save the Planet programme focuses on peatbogs and their importance in combating the climate crisis. It highlights the importance of keeping peat bogs wet. Peatbogs across the globe store more than half of the planet’s carbon and prevent it being released into the atmosphere, but only for as long as they are in their natural condition.
Did you know that one hectare of drained peatbog releases 6 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year? Re-wetting a drained peatbog is like putting a plug in your bath: as soon as water builds up on a bog, the whole ecosystem ceases to release carbon dioxide. This is one of the many reasons that drains are being reconfigured across Fenn’s, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses; to keep water on the reserves and restore the carbon-storing properties of them.
How many Wembley Stadiums would fit into the Mosses?
April 16, 2021
Note: Please be aware that links on this page take you to third party websites.
The FA Cup Semis are this weekend. Both semi-final matches will take place at Wembley Stadium: Chelsea v Manchester City on Saturday 17th and Leicester City v Southampton on Sunday 18th. What better time to give a new perspective on the size of the Marches Mosses!
Wembley Stadium has a circumference of 1km, while the Mosses have a circumference of about 17 kilometres. Let’s say an average person can walk a kilometre in 15 minutes. Even stopping to look at the statue of Bobby Moore outside Wembley, it would take only 15 minutes to travel around the outside of Wembley.
On the other hand, it would take that same average person over four hours to walk all the way around the 1,000 hectares of the Mosses, even with a few stops to look at the birds, the butterflies and the big open sky.
Sadly, there isn’t a track that follows the entire edge of the nature reserve, but there are a number of walking trails through parts of the Mosses that you can enjoy, before or after the FA Cup matches – or anytime you fancy a nice walk. Here are links to information about the trails on the Marches Mosses:
The Mosses Trail
Follow the trail from near Morris’ Bridge car park to join the Mosses Trail. We’ll be installing a number of viewfinder spots that will provide an excellent outlook over the Mosses along with information about the biodiversity, formation and restoration work on the Mosses. In the meantime, enjoy the peace and tranquility of the Mosses and watch for curlews, lapwings and other birds flying overhead. The Viewfinder Trail is part of the Mosses Trail; you can find it in the Fenn’s and Whixall Visitor leaflet here.
Curlews Over Marches Mosses Credit: Stephen Barlow
Fenn’s and Whixall Mosses History Trail
Learn about the history of the Mosses – the peat cutting, by hand and commercially, how the peatland was used in both World Wars, and even about the bodies in the bog.
The Natural England brochure that you can use to follow the History Trail is here.
Peat cutters’ pattens (overshoes to prevent sinking into the peat)
Bettisfield Moss Trail
This 2km (1 ½ miles) trail takes about an hour to walk. You’ll spot a variety of plants, many of which thrive only in the peatland conditions of the Mosses and you’ll likely see birds overhead and, if you look closely, butterflies, beetles and other invertebrates that live on Mosses.
Note: Please be aware that links on this page take you to third party websites.
With virus restrictions easing, the Whixall Marina Cafe is open again, with outdoor tables and chairs – at last! In case of April showers, they’ve put up a waterside awning.
That means you can go for a walk on the Mosses and then head over to the Cafe at nearby Whixall Marina for hot or cold drinks, sandwiches, cakes and sweets.
Generally, the cafe will be open Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10am – 4 pm. You can check their opening hours on @whixall_marina or their website: whixallmarina.co.uk.
So get your wellies ready and enjoy the fresh air and open skies of the Marches Mosses before – or after – visiting the Whixall Marina Cafe.
Wildlife Trusts urge peat-free gardening
April 6, 2021
Note: Please be aware that links on this page take you to third party websites.
The Wildlife Trusts are asking people to show the Government that they care about protecting peatlands. They have launched a petition and urge everyone to check information on compost packaging to ensure that garden purchases are free of peat.
Peatlands are priceless. They take millennia to develop, storing millions of tonnes of carbon in the process. The commercial cutting of peatbogs not only destroys vital wildlife habitat, it also impacts their ability to hold carbon which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere as CO2, speeding up the process of climate change.
Fortunately, the peatlands of north Shropshire are no longer cut commercially and have been free from cutting for 30 years. The Marches Mosses make up the third largest area of lowland raised peatbog in the UK; there are larger sites, which hold even more carbon, but continue to be cut extensively.
Historically, peat was cut and dried for people to use in their fires, to heat their homes and to cook food. In modern times of central heating and electricity, the demand for peat has shifted to the world of horticulture. Peat-based compost comes directly from the declining peat bogs of the planet, but there are alternatives out there.
The Wildlife Trusts also encourage some of the UK’s largest retailers of gardening products to end the sales of peat-based compost this year, or risk being directly responsible for the irreversible damage of one of our most sensitive and declining ecosystems. To force the end of peat use in retail, consumers needs to stop using peat- based compost. By going peat-free, we can reduce the demand for peat-based products and make the alternatives more commercially viable options.
With lockdown restrictions lifting, canal boating is a great way to staycation in the UK. If you’re out on the Llangollen Canal on your boat, the Marches Mosses are a great place to stop and stretch your legs. The canal, dug through peat in the early 1800s, passes the precious peatland that is the Mosses – Fenn’s, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses, Wem Moss and Cadney Moss.
The Viewing Tower looking out over the Mosses
From the mooring near Morris’ Bridge, it’s a short walk along the Moss-side towpath to the new Viewing Tower that overlooks the Mosses. The tower is five metres high, providing fantastic views over the expanse of this rare habitat. Enjoy the open skies above – who knows? You might spot a curlew, or even a hobby, overhead. So, make time to stop and experience the magic and mystery of the Mosses before you resume your canal boat adventure.
Curlew Credit: Stephen Barlow
Shropshire Council have Published Natural England’s Worlds End Planning Application
March 29, 2021
Note: Please be aware that links on this page take you to third party websites.
Natural England have submitted a Planning Application to Shropshire Council for works at Worlds End Fields as part of the Marches Mosses BogLIFE Project. The purpose of the work is for engineering works to allow the water levels to be managed on these fields.
The BogLIFE Project aims to allow better control of water levels to enable wetland habitat to be restored on land acquired in 2017. The land is peatland and originally formed the edge of the internationally important Fenn’s, Whixall, Bettisfield , Cadney and Wem Mosses SAC and Ramsar site, significant as the 3rd largest lowland raised bog in the UK.
The proposal will enable the water levels across the land to be managed to afford optimum conditions to allow bog edge habitats to re-establish. Re-wetting the land will prevent further deterioration of the peat, including in the deeper peats of the adjacent Bettisfield Moss NNR and in due course mitigate the associated release of greenhouse gases.
The Planning Application has now been published on the Shropshire Council website. You can access it here on the Shropshire Council website: https://pa.shropshire.gov.uk/online-applications. The application is entitled ENGINEERING OPERATIONS TO ENABLE WATER LEVEL MANAGEMENT AT WORLD’S END FIELDS, MOSS LANE. The Planning Application Reference is 21/01140/FUL.
The entire application contains more documents than we can publish here, so we have posted links to 11 priority documents in the application here for you to read. They’re listed separately below with a link to each document.
If you have any questions about the application, please contact: [email protected].
BogLIFE and Mosses and Marches Webinar on 25th March
March 25, 2021
Note: Please be aware that links on this page take you to third party websites.
Register ahead of time to join the conversation
Hosted by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management
Main photo credit: Stephen Barlow
Robert Duff, Marches Mosses BogLIFE Project Manager, and visual artist Andrew Howe, will lead a webinar to talk about Andrew’s current project, “Mosses and Marshes” and the overall BogLIFE project on Thursday 25th March at 5:30pm.
The webinar is free of charge; however, you need to register ahead of time, no later than Wednesday 24 March. You can do so by following this link:
The webinar is hosted by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM). The Q&A discussion will be chaired by Dave Pritchard, Chair of CIWEM’s Art and Environment Network and Chair of the Ramsar Culture Network.
The Marshes and Mosses project is a collaboration between artists, land managers and environmental specialists in the UK and Australia. It uses art to transform how people think about the changing environment at two of the world’s internationally recognised wetlands – the raised peat bogs of Fenn’s Bettisfield and Whixall Mosses NNR and the Macquarie Marshes in New South Wales. You can find out more about this project here.
Birds on the Mosses, by Dr. Bob Harris
March 22, 2021
With Spring arriving, we asked Dr. Bob Harris to write a piece for us about the birds that live on the Mosses , whether that’s year ’round or just for a season.
Bob mentions the curlews and lapwings that are returning to the Mosses now that winter is ending. They’re ground-nesting birds and their numbers are declining across the country. So it’s more important than ever that we ask you to keep your dogs on a lead when you visit the Mosses with them to help protect these species and others.
We want to protect you, too, so we suggest that you wear wellies or tall boots when you visit. We’ve have a lot of rain over the winter and the Mosses are doing their job in holding rainwater on the peat. But that means it’s pretty muddy on some of the trails, so we’ll be wearing our wellies and suggest that you do that, too.
Curlew in Flight Over Marches Mosses Credit: Stephen Barlow
Dr. Bob Harris writes:
The 1st March – St. David’s Day but, more importantly, the Meteorological start of spring. On the Shropshire Wildlife Trust site at Sinker’s Fields, Whixall, the bird life is changing, with winter visitors becoming restless and getting ready to move. Absent now are the large numbers of Wigeon and Teal, and the small numbers of Pintail and Shoveler fall daily. Water Rails have gone, although the Coot and Moorhen still stubbornly hang on while water levels remain. Canada and Grey-lag geese, typically in large numbers overnight, have been replaced by breeding pairs all noisily laying claim to potential nest sites, and Mallards? there’s always Mallards. As water levels fall many birds move to the nearby Mosses to roost overnight and, seemingly, never come back.
Our winter Fieldfares and Redwings having eaten virtually every berry along the hawthorns of the canal bank and with warming temperatures and increasing day length their thoughts have turned to places further north. Many are now departing in small flocks.
Lapwing over Marches Mosses Credit:
Stephen Barlow
Besides all of these birds leaving, spring on the Fields is also marked by the calls of incoming Curlew, the ‘pee-wit’ of the Lapwing, and the ‘sqwark’ of the Black-headed gulls. Wagtails begin to appear, early Sand Martins stay for a day or two to be quickly replaced by longer staying swallows, and eventually swifts. The song of the Dunnock and Robin follows one everywhere and the Cettis’s Warbler present on /off all winter is still here – this year it may actually stay to breed.
Around the tree-lined edges of the Mosses the flocks of Lesser Redpolls have now all but gone but the small charms of Goldfinches still exist drawing attention to themselves by their constant ‘silver-twittering’. The small flock of crossbill seen in the conifers over winter now appear to have moved to better breeding habitat. Great Spotted Woodpeckers are starting to drum and the yaffle of the Green Woodpecker can sometimes be heard. Blackbirds and Blue Tits seem to be everywhere and the ‘teacher-teacher’ call of the Great Tit is loud and persistent. Everyone is waiting for the first calls of the migrant Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler which definitely indicates that spring is almost here.
Snipe
On the nearby Mosses themselves the cold, bleak and depressing winter habitat with its occasional hunting Harrier or Barn Owl, its over-flying Raven, or the ever present Carrion Crows, things are slowly beginning to change. Visits which previously only recorded the occasional Meadow Pipit, snipe or ubiquitous wren now rub shoulders with increasing numbers of excited Reed Bunting, Stonechat and Skylark. Pairs of Linnet, displaced for the winter, now reappear in their usual haunts in the path-side trees and bushes. Whitethroats are (will be) in profusion but Yellowhammers are becoming rare and the nearest Corn Buntings are close; at nearby Wem Moss.
Female Stonechat Credit: Stephen Barlow
Male Reed Bunting Credit: Stephen Barlow
Out in the centre of the Mosses spring is heralded by the evocative bubbling calls of Curlew, as they have now paired off and have started to take up territories and nest sites. Lapwings also add their courtship flight across the Mosses, while Black-headed gulls ‘sqwark’ in profusion, collecting over their chosen colony sites. Canada Geese honk noisily, with every puddle of water seemingly having its own pair of geese.
As other summer migrants arrive back they too take up territories and nest sites. Garden Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher all nest on site, alongside Kestrel, Merlin and Teal. Cuckoo’s range over the whole site – probably targeting Meadow Pipits to receive their single eggs – but unfortunately, as elsewhere, their numbers each year appear to be less. Snipe, although present on site all year, with larger numbers in the winter, are thought to breed but concrete evidence is difficult to achieve.
Hobby in Flight Credit: Stephen Barlow
As the weather warms and more and more insects appear on the wing swallows feed about the periphery of the Mosses while swifts hawk everywhere. At some point Hobbys will appear – with up to five counted on site at one time.
Night time visits to the Mosses are few and far between – particularly as it’s also “Mosquito Party-time”. But volunteers do visit. Surveys are undertaken and planned for Long-eared and Tawny Owl, with dawn and dusk visits for snipe and nightjar (which do breed on site). Recent research reports frequent movement by Curlew at night so additional surveys at this time may give a better indication of breeding numbers; indeed no one really knows the extent of bird activity on the Mosses at night.
Note: monthly bird surveys are undertaken across the whole site together with WeBS counts and surveys as part of Defra’s Avian-flu monitoring. Over 100 nest boxes have been erected and are monitored by volunteers as part of the BTO Nest Record Scheme. Licensed Bird Ringing occurs both spring and autumn targeting migrants as they move through the Mosses. All of those birds marked in bold in the main text are targets for specific surveys in 2021.
So Big the FA Cup Would Fit into the Mosses?
March 19, 2021
The Marches Mosses are important peatland that cover 1,000 hectares of north Shropshire and northeast Wales. What does that have to do with football?
Well, with the FA Cup Quarterfinals coming up, there just might be a link: Around 1,400 football pitches would fit into those 1,000 hectares of the Mosses. That would be nearly two pitches for each of the 736 English football clubs that competed in the FA Cup this season.
Marches Mosses Credit: Stephen Barlow
While the pitches would fit onto the Mosses, the players might find the surface a bit difficult to play on as healthy peat is squelchy underfoot. That healthy peat has some strong benefits – it stores carbon, helping in the fight against climate change; it provides a habitat for wildlife that depend on its acidic nature to thrive; and it captures rainwater, helping to slow the flow into rivers downstream – thus keeping those real football pitches that little bit drier for the players.
So, whether you’re cheering on one of the last eight teams in the FA Cup this weekend or disappointed that your club isn’t among them, you can stretch your legs and get some fresh air with a walk on the variety of marked trails that run through the 1,400 football pitches that make up the Marches Mosses.
Marches Mosses Celebrate UN World Wildlife Day
March 3, 2021
Note: Please be aware that links on this page take you to third party websites.
Today, March 3rd, is UN World Wildlife Day. It was established in 2013 by the United Nations General Assembly to be held on the anniversary of the 1973 signing of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The purpose of World Wildlife Day is to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants.
The Marches Mosses is an ecosystem that’s home to a wide range of fauna and flora that need the wet, acidic environment of the Mosses to thrive. Among them are the great raft spider and the white-faced darter dragonfly.
Raft Spider Credit: Stephen Barlow
The great raft spider is a large wolf spider; it’s the size of the centre of the palm of an adult’s hand. Mid-brown in colour, raft spiders have pale yellow stripes along each side of their body. It looks like it walks on water, but it’s really using the surface tension of the water to support its weight. Raft spiders like to sit at the edge of one of the many pools on the Mosses, or on floating vegetation on the pool’s surface, with its front legs resting on the water’s surface. It feels for vibrations on the water as flying insects land and then jumps onto the unsuspecting insect for its lunch.
Raft spiders also swim underwater to locate food, eating aquatic insects like water beetles and even small fish and frogs. It dives underwater when threatened. You can spot them on the Mosses from May to August.
Raft spider showing stripes on body. Credit: Allan Heath
The scientific name for raft spiders is Dolomedes fimbriatus; they are part of the Pisauridae family of spiders. “Dolomedes” comes from the Greek word meaning “crafty” or “wily”, which is a good description of how raft spiders hunt!
White-faced darter Credit: Stephen Barlow
Another denizen of the Mosses is the white-faced darter (Leucorrhinia dubia), one of the 26 species of dragonflies you can look for on the Mosses. The white-faced darter is special as it’s very rare, so rare that it’s on the GB Red List of endangered species. The male white-faced darter is red and black, while the female is yellow and black. Both have a creamy white face and a notably “hunchback” appearance.
White-faced darters are a true mire species: they need the shallow, peaty pools of the Mosses with their mixture of bogmoss cover and open water to survive. Their larvae occur in waterlogged Sphagnum moss on the edges of ponds. Darters also use the woodlands on the edges of the Mosses and along the disused railway line for roosting and feeding.
White-faced darter Credit: Vicky Nall
The numbers of white-faced darters have declined nationally over the past 35 – 40 years. Reasons for their decline include the removal of Sphagnum through peat cutting, pollution, and the changes to rainfall being caused by climate change.
However, numbers have increased on the Mosses as populations of darters have spread to new areas where bunding work has been done to restore this precious peatland. The bunds form pools in the surrounding bogmoss, perfect habitats for the darters. This has been so successful that, several years ago, some white-faced darters were collected and transported to wetlands in Delamere Forest to increase the population there.
You can spot white-faced darters on the Mosses from April until September, with May to July being the best times to look for them.
Walking on the Mosses Credit: Stephen Barlow
World Wildlife Day might be too early to spot raft spiders and white-faced darters on the Mosses, but other plants and animals are starting to reappear as Spring begins. Follow the COVID guidelines for the area you live in, but remember that the Mosses are always a good location for your daily exercise.
