National Heritage Week peatland field trip
On Saturday we led a field trip up into the Wicklow Mountains to see how last year's peatland restoration project is working as part of National Heritage Week. We nearly had to call it off in the aftermath of the storm but once we were there the weather was surprisingly calm.
And it was worth the climb as the work we did building dams, spreading heather mulch and putting up sheep fences has had a huge effect! Once barren, brown peat has now become green with all sorts of vegetation recolonising the protected area.
Including, much to our surprise and delight, birch tree seedlings! They must have blown there on the wind and with a bit of protection from grazing sheep, they've now sprung into life. Its incredible to think these vast open peatlands should actually have trees like this dotted all over them. And hopefully now we have started the process to restoring them to just that!
A special thank you to NPWS ranger Hugh McLindon who leads on this project and was our guide for the day.