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Indulge me - here’s a long thread on something that keeps me optimistic. It’s the story of my favourite landscape image.
Also involves environmental restoration, family, partnership working, bogs, skylarks … and classic animated children’s TV shows. 1/25
Also involves environmental restoration, family, partnership working, bogs, skylarks … and classic animated children’s TV shows. 1/25
Surprisingly, the image isn’t by @JonGibbsPhoto @valeriedalling @marklj @Vemsteroo @GWhittonPhoto @RTalibart @RKphotographic @dougchinnery @lensdistrict or any of the other superb landscape photographers whose work I have at home (sorry folks!) 2/2
It’s the Google Earth image of the top of Kinder Scout in the Peak District National Park, one of our iconic landscapes. I sometimes just stare at the little brown square at the top right of the image, with a wee smile on my face. 3/25
Here’s a close up. 4/25
Why my enthusiasm for this image? Well, on a Sunday just over 10 years ago we had a family hike up Kinder. Fun was had (though no offspring were harmed in the making of this image). But I had an ulterior motive. 5/25
The Kinder Plateau was in a very sorry state back then. Badly eroded, dominated by bare peat with poor wildlife and biodiversity status, losing carbon stored in the peat at a rapid rate and shedding water quickly so raising downstream flood risk. Really, really knackered. 6/25
Colleagues and I @OfficialUoM @GeographyUOM had been awarded a grant through the fantastic @moorsforfuture partnership to study impacts of the restoration of this iconic landscape, funded by @EnvAgency and supported by @nationaltrust. 7/25
The restoration was imminent, so we very quickly needed sites to monitor the changes. Hence my family coming out on a weekend to help. 8/25
We found some good candidate sites. I took the intelligence back to UoM and we finalised sites to study. 9/25
Early 2010 the UoM team installed equipment to monitor stream runoff and water tables, and colleagues from @moorsforfuture set up plots to monitor bare peat and vegetation cover. 10/25
Eagle eyed will note ‘Firmin’ on the weir here. That’s the site name. We also have a Postgate, Nogson and Olaf. 11/25
Those of a certain vintage will recognise these names from #smallfilms animations. Noggin the Nog etc. My kids named the sites. It gives me great joy in meetings when academic and conservation folk blithely refer to bits of Kinder Scout as ‘Firmin’ or ‘Nogson’ 12/25
In 2011 @moorsforfuture restored the bare peat using lime-seed-fertilizer to establish a vegetation cover, and blocked the erosion gullies. 13/25
We’ve been watching the sites ever since. 14/25
And the transformation has been staggering. These images are from 2011 and 2018. Erosion halted, native bog vegetation re-established, carbon accumulating, storm flows reduced. 15/25
In 2017 @moorsforfuture also reintroduced Sphagnum moss (the bog builder) to one of our sites (Nogson, if you wanted to know). It’s spreading rapidly and we already have Sphagnum carpet in places. Fantastic! 16/25
So now you might understand why I love the google earth image and the odd little brown square. Because that’s ‘Firmin’ - the control area left unrestored. 17/25
It shows just how much the restoration has achieved in 10 years. You can stand with one foot in Kinder’s past, eroding and barren, and one foot in the restored, vibrant ecosystem it has become. 18/25
Last time I was up there, just before lockdown, there were skylarks singing above our restored sites. Quite a moment for me. 19/25
You’ll also have notice the offspring have grown up. Talented, engaged adults now, starting to make their mark on the world. Dead humbling. 20/25
All this gives me optimism, even given the harsh winds blowing. Positive change in our landscapes can happen quickly. And there’s a generation now engaged with the environment and the politics needed to engender change, although we all need to strongly advocate. 21/25
If you’ve got this far thanks for indulging me! You can read about the partnership work with @moorsforfuture here https://www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk/our-work/our-projects/making-space-for-water 22/25
We’ve published papers on overall ecosystem trends over the last decade on Kinder https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969719305765 and on how restoration can reduce flood risk https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589915518300063 23/25
And the @GeographyUOM team and partners have a new NERC project ‘PROTECT-NFM’ on restoration to quantify natural flood management benefits for communities at risk of flooding https://protectnfm.com/ 24/25
I’m really looking forward to seeing what can be achieved over the next 10 years. ENDS 25/25
