The Lindow Moss Landscape Partnership – Peat Surveying

The Lindow Moss Landscape Partnership consists of Transition Wilmslow, the Friends of Lindow Moss, Wilmslow Town Council, Cheshire East Council, Cheshire Wildlife Trust, Mersey Rivers Trust and Groundwork CLM. This partnership is committed to working together to map, conserve, and restore the wider Lindow Moss Landscape for the benefit of nature, climate, and people. An important aspect is understanding the extent of peat in the area so that we can advise landowners on opportunities available to them.

We are providing this Storymap briefing to all people that have expressed interest in the project, including all members of the Friends of Lindow Moss so that you aware of the next stage of research.

Famous for the  Lindow Man , Lindow Moss and the surrounding landscape is a culturally historic landscape, and has been an important resource for local people for thousands of years. Peat was used as fuel when wood became less widely available, providing local families with a source of heat and energy.

While peatlands were described as “wastes” on the 18th and 19th century maps, they have always been deeply cultural landscapes of importance to local people.

Peat forms under waterlogged conditions where plant matter accumulates faster than it can decay, due to an oxygen-excluding environment that slows the normal breakdown of organic matter. This means that overtime it can store carbon in the ground, helping to slow down climate change. However, due to historic management, the peat is now emitting more carbon than it stores.

At the heart of the LCA is a former peat extraction site, or ‘cutover’ peat bog, which has been heavily worked but is now in the early stages of restoration. This is just one example of the ways in which peat has been used and, often, damaged by people. There are several areas which have had all of the peat dug up and the resulting space filled with waste and rubbish, and there is evidence of peat extraction locally going back hundreds of years. This process became mechanised in the twentieth century, leaving the eroded landscape we can see on the cutover bog today. It's important to monitor and restore the peat so that is can start storing carbon again.

As part of the Lindow Moss Landscape Partnership, TEP (The Environment Partnership) are completing ground surveys from mid-October to late November on behalf of Groundwork Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside (Groundwork CLM).  to check for the presence of peat, its depth and condition across the Lindow Moss Landscape Character Area. This is an area of around 460ha between Wilmslow and Manchester Airport, an area once covered by Lindow Common that has the potential to be one of the largest wetland landscapes in Cheshire.

The ground surveys are completed using a non-invasive method that requires ½ day to a day’s worth of work, depending on the size of the parcel of land. The surveys are completed at specific pre-determined points. At each point, a neat 300x300mm square of topsoil is removed from the ground using a spade. A peat probe, which is a 15mm wide rod, is then inserted into the ground to test if there is peat. If there is, the rod is pushed into the ground until resistance is felt, which helps indicate peat depth. The rod is then removed, and the topsoil firmly placed back in the same location.

To complete the survey, TEP’s survey team would like to access approximately 200 separate parcels of land in the Lindow Moss Landscape Character Area between October-December 2024.

TEP is seeking to contact individual landowners over the coming weeks, and we would be grateful if you could pass this information onto anyone that you feel would be interested in this project.

The results of the survey will allow Groundwork CLM to build up a picture of the extent of the peat body in the area. Groundwork CLM will then use this information to liaise with landowners to advise on grants and support available to help restore this valuable landscape.

If you are a landowner within our survey area, or have any questions about the surveying or project, then please get in touch using the information below.

Jack Crowshaw:  Lindow@groundwork.org.uk  01942 821 444 

Tom Young:  TomYoung@tep.uk.com  07587 658676