Kype Muir promotes peatland recovery

A mosaic of habitat spanning more than 180 football pitches is being sensitively restored by a renewables developer at a local wind farm.
Robin Wistanley is proud to be supporting peatland restoration in South Lanarkshire.Robin Wistanley is proud to be supporting peatland restoration in South Lanarkshire.
Robin Wistanley is proud to be supporting peatland restoration in South Lanarkshire.

Banks Renewables is restoring the land, previously used for commercial forestry, back to healthy peatland at its Kype Muir wind farm as part of a dedicated 25-year habitat management plan.

Created in collaboration with ecology and forestry experts, the Kype Muir habitat management plan will significantly increase biodiversity and aid the land’s carbon capture properties.

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Robin Winstanley, sustainability and external affairs manager at Banks, said: “When the land was commercially forested, large areas were drained to try to help trees grow.

“This led to large areas becoming dried out, leading to a loss of some plant and animal species.

“The key focus of our habitat management plan is to re-establish the natural soil saturation of the peat in order to encourage biodiversity and restore its carbon capture properties.”

Peat bogs can support a wide variety of animal and plant life including the Black Grouse – a priority species under the NatureScot Species Action Framework.

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Healthy peatland is also an effective carbon capture repository – with more than 1.7 billion tonnes, or 140 years’ worth of Scotland’s total greenhouse gas emissions, of carbon stored in Scottish peatlands alone. Kype Muir’s habitat management plan will be reviewed every year, with guidance from NatureScot and South Lanarkshire Council – with the first progress report already yielding positive results.

Robin added: “We have already started to see re-wetting of areas and the emergence of peat forming species. We’re looking forward to watching the habitat return to peatland.”

Studies suggest that between 1940 and 1980 up to 21 per cent of Scotland’s healthy bog habitats were dried out.

In South Lanarkshire, less than six per cent of the land is classified as peatland.

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Increasing the number of peatbogs is a key aim of the Upland Ecosystem Action Plan in the South Lanarkshire Local Biodiversity Action Plan.

Banks Renewables will also be planting a number of broadleaf trees to help promote Black Grouse.