SESSION 1: More than just Heather TALK 3: Mires

Of all the terrestrial habitats in the UK, peatlands are perhaps the most invisible. This
invisibility is all the more remarkable when one considers that peatlands are the world’s
most extensive type of wetland, being found on all continents and ranging from the arctic to
the tropics. So often they are defined as something other than peatland – usually dry heath,
wet heath or moorland – but closer investigation, as was undertaken during negotiations by
the former Nature Conservancy Council to purchase Fenn's and Whixall Moss on the
Clwyd/Shropshire border, reveals that areas thought of as heathland on thin peat, or as dry
moorland, are in fact damaged examples of very deep peat. Managing such areas as
anything other than peatland is likely to be un‐sustainable and lead to a steady degradation
of all those ecosystems services which are provided by peatlands, such as long‐term carbon
storage, flood storage, water quality‐control and a distinctive range of biodiversity.

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