Meres, Mosses & Beaver Reintroduction
Delamere’s meres and mosses have existed since the end of the last Ice Age over 10,000 years ago. Just like the more than 200 other meres and mosses scattered across Cheshire and Shropshire this chain of bogs, marsh and fen wetlands are internationally important for the species they support and the ecosystem services they provide.
Once known as the ‘Forest of the meres’ Delamere has lost many of its meres and mosses since 1812 when the area was first drained and forested. The restoration efforts carried out by the Forestry Commission and Natural England in the 1990’s have seen startling changes occur, with rare species such as the royal fern and the round-leaved sundew returning to the area.
While only a fragment of their former size, they are still home to many plants and insects that are rarely found elsewhere. Much of Cheshire’s most important wildlife is associated with its meres and mosses. Delamere’s Lost Mosses project ran for 5 years. A partnership with the Cheshire Wildlife Trust, the Forestry Commission, WREN, Natural England and Cheshire West and Chester Council restored over 125ha of mossland habitat, with over 40ha managed with the help of more than 100 volunteers.
The project helped develop skills amongst six part-time volunteer trainees, four of which have gone on to work in the conservation and ecology sector, with the other two remaining in education. Ten landowners were worked with to control invasive species control. Water quality was tested and the results leading to mitigation actions being carried out. A parcel of land was gifted to the Cheshire Wildlife Trust which connects to its Hatchmere Nature Reserve and including wet woodland, flushes and wet grassland with species such as ragged robin, water mint and bittersweet.
The project recorded 12 species of sphagnum, two of which are rare within the Cheshire region. The project also saw the return of the green hairstreak butterfly to two restoration areas within Delamere Forest (Black Lake and Norley moss) and confirmed that Scitticus floricola (the Delamere Jumping Spider) is still present on Black Lake and Abbots moss, as well as finding two previously unknown populations within the Delamere landscape, bringing known UK sites up to thirteen.
A nationally rare money spider Glyphesis cottonae was found on four new sites within the Delamere landscape, almost doubling the number of sites it has been found on in Cheshire. Rare mossland hoverfly Orthonevra intermedia was confirmed to be using five mossland sites within the Delamere area, currently the only known sites for this species in the UK. Surveys were carried out for the bog bush cricket, currently known from only two locations in Cheshire. The historic population on Abbots moss SSSI was confirmed to be thriving.
Flaxmere SSSI was reclassified as Unfavourable – recovering from Unfavourable – declining due to the work carried out by the project. Natural England currently think the site should be considered to be in Favourable condition in the near future. Sphagnum surveys have confirmed that area of sphagnum has increased across the Delamere mossland sites since the start of the DLM project. Fifteen guided walks, ten talks and ten training days were given throughout the project.
Birchenholt North
Cheshire Wildlife Trust have continued to maintain and improve the ecological quality of many of these mosses, and have reintroduced Beavers. The Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) is a large herbivore, a mammal that was formerly native to these shores and once played an important part in our landscape from prehistoric times until it was hunted to extinction in the 16th century for its fur, meat and scent glands.
The loss of this charismatic species also led to loss of the mosaic of lakes, meres, mires, tarns and boggy places that it so brilliantly built. Beavers are known as ‘nature’s engineers’, they make changes to their habitats which create diverse wetlands by digging canal systems, damming water courses, and coppicing tree and shrub species, which create diverse wetlands for other species to thrive, often bringing enormous benefits to otters, water shrews, water voles, birds, invertebrates (especially dragonflies) and breeding fish.
Beavers and the landscapes they generate benefit both people and wildlife because:
- They help to reduce downstream flooding – the channels, dams and wetland habitats that
beavers create hold back water and release it more slowly after heavy rain - They increase water retention
- They clean water
- They reduce siltation, which pollutes water
