Mosslands

Mosslands was originally the local name for what ecologist's call "lowland raised bog". Today the term "mosslands" is also used to cover the areas that were formerly bogs, but which have now been converted to farmland.

Lowland raised bogs can be defined as areas of deep peat, which have developed over thousands of years in lowland areas where drainage has been poor. In such locations, the water logging slows down the decomposition of any plants, which grow there, and leads to the accumulation of peat. Over many years, this process raises the peat and any plants growing on its surface above the level of the surrounding land, to form a gently sloping dome (from which the term "raised" in the ecological definition is derived). Undamaged raised bogs support a range of bog mosses (sphagnum), together with cotton grasses, cross-leaved heath, bog rosemary and sundews. They also support a range of invertebrates.

Over the last few hundred years at both national and local level, the majority of this habitat has been lost. Originally, the peat making up the bog was drained and excavated for fuel. However, as knowledge developed and it was realised that with the addition of manure and/or fertiliser, the acidic peat soils could be transformed into highly productive farmland, more bog was drained/fertilised to create agricultural land. In several places the peat was also extracted for use in the horticultural trade.

The government nature conservation advisors have estimated that the extent of remaining undamaged raised bog has declined in the UK by 94%, from 95,000 hectares at the beginning of the nineteenth century, down to approximately 6,000 ha in the mid 1990s. Locally in the Mersey Valley, it has been estimated that there were originally some 2,650 ha of lowland raised bog covering the overall area now known as Chat Moss (which lies in the south west of Salford and extends into Wigan). However, by the 1990s around 1,900 ha of this had been drained and fertilised to create agricultural land. Although the majority of Chat Moss had been reclaimed for farmland, some 93 ha of degraded bog retained some remnants of previous mossland flora, and 310 ha (i.e. 268 in Salford and 42 in Wigan) of relatively undamaged peat deposits remained in four peat extraction sites. All the 93 ha of remnant bog flora and 42 ha of peat extraction sites lie within Wigan, and 268 ha of the peat extraction sites lie in Salford.

Given the extent of loss of the original bog habitat, and the commitments in recent legislation and planning policy guidance to the need to take account of biodiversity, there is an increased level of importance being attached to both bog remnants and opportunities to restore this habitat in an area where it was previously, a key feature of the landscape. This has led to the designation of the 93 ha of remnant bog in Wigan as part of the Manchester Mosses, Special Area of Conservation (which means that it is considered to be of European importance) and the identification of a Mossland Heartland (protected by policy EN11 in the Salford Unitary Development Plan) covering 2 of the peat extraction sites in Salford.

It is thought that because of the relatively undamaged condition of the peat deposits within the extraction sites, they represent the best opportunities to restore areas of bog habitat in Salford. UK BAP provides further information on lowland raised bog as a UK 'priority habitat' and Greater Manchester Biodiversity Project provides further information on bog as a local priority habitat.

Who to contact

Name

Planning and Transport Futures

Address

Sustainable Regeneration
Salford City Council
Civic Centre
Chorley Road
Swinton
Salford
M27 5BY
Map to this location

Telephone

0161 793 3782

Email

plans.consultation@salford.gov.uk

This page was last updated on 9 September 2011