Lancashire Wildlife Trust - Peatlands

16/06/2026

Yesterday we were out translocating some of the large heath population from Winmarleigh down to Astley to help boost the population.

A select few butterflies (a few males and breeding females) were selected - good luck in your new home little butterflies! 🦋

Lancashire Wildlife Trust

12/06/2026

We get rather excited when our assistant peatland reserves officer, Ali, send us more butterfly pics, because they're always ✨stunning✨

Green hairstreaks are the UK's only green butterfly, with a gorgeous metallic iridescence to their wings (and some exceptional eyeliner to match).

🦋Green hairstreak, Winmarleigh Moss - Ali Rajabali

09/06/2026

Last week saw our partners from the Netherlands and Ireland head to Manchester for a meeting of our Palus Demos paludiculture project.

As well as sharing updates from across the Horizon Europe funded project, partners got to tour some of the UK demo sites and spend some time catching up!

Well done our two fantastic assistant project officers, Katie and Anna, who delivered the sessions at our typha site on Chat Moss 💚

Massive thanks to all who were involved in planning (especially Dr Chris Field from MMU).

European Union in the UK, Manchester Metropolitan University, Natural England, Liverpool John Moores University, BeadaMoss "R", Micropropagation Services Ltd., Wright Farm Produce, Lancashire Wildlife Trust

03/06/2026

Despite the wet weather today, there's been some lovely signs of summer on our reserves lately!

Our assistant peatland reserves officer Ali took these lovely photos yesterday at Little Woolden Moss - fittingly on World Peatlands Day ❤

🐛 Garden tiger moth caterpillar
🦊 Fox and cub flowers
🌸 Cross-leaved heath

📸 Ali Rajabali

01/06/2026

Our team welcomed the Lancashire Lieutenancy to our paludiculture site in West Lancashire last week.

It was great to show Amanda Parker, the Lord Lieutenant and her team around Gore House farm, as farmers Cam and Lisa at Goose Meadow Farm Ltd told her all about the challenges of farming on peat, and what paludiculture can mean for the future.

Read more here: https://ow.ly/vrmK50Z5vKv

Lancashire Wildlife Trust, West Lancashire Borough Council

29/05/2026

Thanks so much to Greater Manchester Community Renewables GMCR for some funding for Little Woolden Moss!

This money will help us to get some new tools to help our staff and volunteers to continue their excellent work restoring this amazing peatland ❤

🌱 Big news for Greater Manchester! 🌱

We’re excited to share that £15,000 has been awarded through our GMCR Community Fund to support three incredible local environmental projects 💚

⚡ Solar panels at the MS Therapy Centre
🌿 Peatland restoration at Little Woolden Moss
📚 Youth environmental education with Manchester Environmental Education Network
These projects are set to drive real change—reducing carbon, boosting energy efficiency, and inspiring the next generation 🌍

🚀 Starting in 2026—follow us to see their impact unfold!

29/05/2026

Our two new Lancashire Peat Partnership Assistant Project Officers, Nicola and Sam headed out this week to complete some vegetation surveys around some of our rewetted areas on Darwen Moor with Nathan.

Doing these surveys each year helps us to see what effect the rewetting is having, and how well sphagnum is populating the area along with other key species like common cottongrass 💚

Lancashire Wildlife Trust

26/05/2026

We were absolutely delighted to see Little Woolden Moss mentioned at RHS Chelsea Flower show this weekend as part of their peat-free display!

Some excellent photos of our reserve both before restoration, and after. It's a great testament to all the hard work that's gone into the site involving many hands over the year. there's still work to go, but it's fab to see how far we've come 🥹

21/05/2026

Time flies - like a butterfly!

It's very nearly time for our team to head back out onto Winmarleigh Moss and start to survey this years large heath butterfly population - take a read of our Peatlands Project Manager, Helen's blog about last years survey, and why it can be nerve-wracking wondering if our population has survived the cold, wet winter.

Peatlands Project Manager, Helen Earnshaw, takes us through a day surveying for the rare large heath butterfly on Winmarleigh Moss earlier this year.

19/05/2026

🚂Rocket All Aboard! 🚋

Kirsty, our comms officer, had the delight of being asked to deliver a talk at the Museum of Liverpool last week, as part of Manchester Histories plans for Rocket All Aboard - a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Liverpool-Manchester, or Chat Moss, Railway line.

Exploring the boggy history underneath the famous floating railway line, with of course some of the iconic wildlife that calls Chat Moss home was a lovely way to spend an evening and we're looking forward to working more with the project.

Lancashire Wildlife Trust