Malpas's Cheshire Wildlife Trust, has taken part in the United Kingdom's first collaborative Peatland Strategy, launched last week, setting out a shared vision for a brighter future for our vital, but damaged peatlands.

The Trust has a long history of working collaboratively across the region to create healthy peatlands. In recent years this has included work across the Delamere landscape re-wetting areas of peatland to restore rare mossland habitats. Through this work specialised plants such as sundew, bilberry, cranberry, bog rosemary and royal fern, as well as butterflies, dragonflies, and reptiles have been able to re-colonise the landscape.

The Trust has also recently received funding from the Defra Peatland Restoration Fund to to create bunds/dams which will retain water on the sites to help support the growth of specialist bog plants and restore the habitats.

Martin Varley, director of conservation at Cheshire Wildlife Trust said: "Over the last few years, we have worked with partners to restore mossland habitat through scrub-clearance, rewetting areas of peatland to create pools, and controlling invasive species. This work also provides wider environmental benefits. Before restoration much of the peat on the sites was drying out causing it to break down and release carbon into the atmosphere.

For more information on the IUCN UK Peatland Programme, please visit www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org.