Our story
Haughey’s bog is an area of around 30 hectares of peatland that has been left almost completely baron by commercial peat extraction. The site has been bought by Ulster Wildlife and An Creagán with the help of DEARA to be restored for wildlife and carbon storage benefits.
The site sits on the bank of the Owenreagh river which is an ASSI designated for its globally threatened pearl mussel populations. Black bog ASSI is also right next to the site which is one of the best remaining examples of raised bog landscape in Northern Ireland.
The damage that has been done to Haughey’s from the peat extraction is extensive, it has had several meters of peat completely removed along with almost all the vegetation cover. It has also had very large and deep drains cut through all the remaining peat that substantially lower the water table on the site.
The reduction in the water table and exposing of bare peat allows for huge amounts of CO2 to be lost to the atmosphere and a complete stop to the sites ability to sequester any further carbon at this time. The stripping of vegetation has also removed much of the wildlife value the site once had.
The drains throughout the bog mean that it is not capable of storing water in the way it once would have, reducing its ability to buffer against floods downstream in times of heavy rain.
Over the next number of years plans are in place to restore Haughey’s and create a wider connected landscape for wildlife. To restore Haughey’s a range of different techniques will be trialed to push our understanding of best practice peatland restoration forward.
The first step of this will be to raise the water table across the site, this will mainly be achieved by blocking the flow in the drains throughout the site. There are a range of different ways to do this (peat dams, plastic dams, zipping, etc) and they will be used in different ways to assess their relative effectiveness.
A higher water table should allow peat forming species such as sphagnums to re-colonize. However, due to the stripped nature of the sites this could be slow and seeding of species (particularly sphagnum) may be needed to speed up the process.
In the wider landscape there are plans to restore nearby afforested land to a bog environment which will connect with Haughey’s allowing for a more contiguous landscape.
While this is going on it is hoped contactors will be gaining peatland restoration skills that can be used on larger and more complex sites in the future.
Our advice
- To carry out this work, Ulster Wildlife and An Creagán have supported over 30 people to gain vital hands-on training. Two intensive courses were recently organised by the Peatland Collaborative Network at the An Creagán Centre and nearby Haughey’s Bog in Co. Tyrone, to ensure more local professionals have the skills and knowledge needed to restore and manage these essential habitats – vital in helping nature recover, filtering water, alleviating flooding and storing carbon.
- The courses, facilitated by Dr Emily Taylor and Anna Basely from the Crichton Carbon Centre, were designed to provide comprehensive training in peatland restoration techniques.
- We engaged participants from diverse backgrounds, including small family businesses, local councils, and larger organisations.
- The training also covered legal considerations for peatland projects, with Dr. Vicky Ginn from the Historic Environment Division at the Department for Communities providing guidance on identifying and managing potential archaeological findings during restoration work.
Our metrics
- Water table height.
- Increase in plant coverage.
- Increase in specific endangered species (e.g. Large Heath Butterfly).
- Decrease in CO2 emissions.
- Water flow rate from the site to the Owenreagh river.
- Number of contractors and volunteers trained.
