South West Peatland Partnership

02/04/2026

One year on and this leaky dam on Dartmoor has really settled in. The plants and mosses you can see are much more diverse, reducing peat erosion, and holding water back in the landscape.

We've finished up our practical restoration for this year, pausing now for the ground-nesting bird season and to plan works that will start in August again. Thanks to all the contractors, farmers, staff, funders, and volunteers for making a large amount of hydrological restoration happen over this - very wet - winter.

If you're out hiking over Easter, you’ll see where we have blocked erosion and drainage channels using peat and wood. This has created pools of water that importantly help to raise and stabilise the water table within the peat and provide amazing wildlife habitat.

You can see the tracks made by the low ground pressure machinery travelling across the moor during the season. We are working to flatten out these tracks and re-seed areas where appropriate. In places there may be areas of temporary fencing erected to limit disturbance to areas of ground over the coming months.

SWPP is funded by Natural England South West Water Environment Agency National Trust

30/03/2026

‘I just keep going every day that I am here. Bit by bit, every little helps.'

Restoration is about working with both people and land.
It's people who are out through the winter on the moor, planning the works, mastering complex machinery, understanding the specifics of each site, consulting with landusers, monitoring change, applying for permissions.
People who are making really really positive things happen through daunting times environmentally.

The task isn't easy. But it would be insurmountable without the teams we have on board - the contractors, partner organisations, staff on the ground, volunteers and those behind-the-scenes championing the unsung wonders of peatlands and the effectiveness of restoration.

It's got us to where we are now, and will take us so much further.

It was great to have The Guardian's Sandra Laville and photographer Jim Wileman out for the day on a hailing, rainy, snowy, sunny and cold North Dartmoor back in February to chat to the SWPP team, contractors like Al, and understand the work taking place.

Thanks for joining us, and for spotlighting not just the nature, the water, the archaeology, the carbon and the peat, but the dedicated people who are making it all happen.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/28/britain-peatlands-restore-dartmoor-bog-carbon-store

With thanks to the ongoing funding for SWPP's work from Natural England South West Water Environment Agency National Trust Dartmoor and for the contractors, partner organisations, landowners, farmers, volunteers, commoners and researchers who work with us year-round.

A project on Dartmoor to reprofile the landscape aims to return the springy bog – and carbon store – to its natural condition

11/02/2026

Swipe to make a positive change ➡️

Reprofiling is a big part of our approach out on the moors, used alongside blocking drainage channels and creating pools of water. Contractors stabilise these large and rapidly-eroding bare peat edges - swipe to see the results from this week out on Dartmoor immediately after.

This work protects against ongoing erosion and, combined with other techniques, helps to raise and stabilise the water table within the carbon-rich peat.

We'll recapture this view for you in a few months once the works have settled in and the area looking better, wetter and wilder.

SWPP is funded by and . Thank you to all the partner organisations, contractors, farmers, interest groups, commoners, volunteers and researchers who enable our work to happen.

02/02/2026

Peatlands matter.

Overlooked in our daily lives, the peat of Dartmoor, Exmoor and Cornwall stores carbon, regulates water, supports wildlife and preserves human history. But most of it is damaged and urgently needs restoration.

Our new film shares the optimism, hard work, monitoring and partnership behind bringing these peatlands back to life here in the South West. Over 5,000 hectares have had restoration works to slow the flow of water, reduce erosion and create essential spaces for nature, but there’s still so much more to be done.

Take 11½ minutes to meet the team, see the transformation underway, and discover why what we do today matters so much for the next 40 years.

A huge thank you to everyone who makes this work possible, and to Here Now Films for bringing these peatland stories to life.

SWPP is funded by Natural England South West Water Environment Agency National Trust Thank you to all the partner organisations, contractors, farmers, interest groups, commoners, volunteers and researchers who enable our work to happen.

https://youtu.be/t3VCDaHLfok?si=OnGOZtLT74zTEmIV
Somerset Outdoor - National Trust National Trust Dartmoor

Peatlands are extraordinary landscapes, out of sight from many of our daily lives, but powerful and vital for life as we know it. Our new film reveals their ...

30/01/2026

Coming this Monday: a film celebrating the beauty and complexity of peatlands, and the need for urgent action to restore them.
You'll meet just some of the team working year-round to make the South West's peatlands wetter and better for all.
Stay tuned...

06/01/2026

Snow is dusting the UK's South West this week, and those summer days of t-shirts, sphagnum ID, and lunch breaks spotting dragonflies feel far away.

But the days are slowly getting longer, and the restoration works being done this week are laying the foundations for summers ahead of healthy, interesting, resilient peatlands. We'll soon spot frogspawn and adders emerging, have to shout to be heard above the skylarks and snipe, and enjoy the rewards of a winter spent out on the moors making good for our incredible peatlands.

>> Video showing snippets from a summer day monitoring the current plantlife in an area of conifer forest that, once trees are removed by the landowner, could see the surrounding peatland thrive

19/12/2025

Reflecting on a year of progress in peatland restoration across the UK's South West. Our team has worked come rain, shine or storm throughout 2025 to deliver projects that improve wildlife diversity, reduce erosion of carbon-rich peat and create better, more resilient, landscapes.

Take a look images shared by the team that capture the impact of our work this year:
https://southwestpeatlandpartnership.co.uk/news/photos-from-the-team-in-2025

Thank you to all our partners, volunteers and supporters for making this possible. Here’s to continuing this vital work in 2026.

Funded by Natural England South West Water Environment Agency National Trust with the collaboration of many more partner organisations, contractors, farmers, interest groups, commoners, volunteers and researchers.

25/10/2025

This week’s view: low-ground pressure machinery shaping peat bunds on North Dartmoor’s Kneeset slopes.

This helps to slow water flow, raise and stabilise the water table within the degrading peat, and help peat-forming sphagnum mosses to return and spread. It's all helping to create habitat for dragonflies and birdlife and make these spaces wetter and better for wildlife, people and the climate.

SWPP is funded by and is a proud collective of 20+ organisations working with landowners, commoners, farmers, charities, volunteers, contractors and local interest groups to make a hugely positive difference to the future of our regional peatlands.

01/09/2025

Bring your wellies and waterproofs for a fun day on Bodmin Moor, learning about and exploring all things bogs and the past.

28/08/2025

This week, 6 of the team from the British Dragonfly Society joined us out on Dartmoor to help us on one of our last summer monitoring days looking at the response of dragonflies and damselfies to our restoration work.

Here's what they shared about their day on the moor, where despite the weather, the team spotted 94 Black Darters - fantastic to see.

"After a heavy downpour, the sun shone and within minutes dragonflies of the high moor appeared and began laying eggs. This continued as Ellie, SWPP Monitoring Officer, showed graphically how much water the Sphagnum bog-moss can soak up.

She described how the Peatland Partnership had made hundreds of small dams from peat or wood to hold back rainwater. Sphagnum was growing well and provided the attraction for egg-laying Black Darters, while Common Hawkers (which are far from common in the lowlands!) laid into organic matter in the margins.

Steve, SWPP Project Officer, found exuviae, the larval skins left behind as adult dragonflies emerge from water, of both of these species, proving that dragonflies have colonised the ponds and boggy areas rapidly.

Both the darter and hawker are declining in the UK, especially in southern England, due to climate warming, so these fabulous new habitats on Dartmoor provide a lifeline for them."

21/08/2025

“We need to get Dartmoor’s peatlands as healthy and resilient to the changing climate as we can, now"