Peak District moor rescue project takes to the skies

The scheme is part of the £5.5m Moor Life project, one of the largest landscape conservation projects in the country, and has involved 5,500 bags of heather brash cuttings being airlifted to Bleaklow.

An EU-funded project, Moor Life, headed by the Moors for the Future Partnership, aims to conserve more than 2,000 acres of moors by 2015.

Cut in the winter when the seeds are ripe, the heather brash will be airlifted by helicopter from Glossop Low in Derbyshire and spread on to bare, eroding peat, which has been damaged by airborne industrial pollution and wildfires. Local contractors will then spread the heather brash using hand tools.

The aim is to regenerate the peat-producing blanket-bog vegetation. The brash reduces further erosion of the peat and at the same time gives the seeds a microclimate to grow in.

Chris Dean, programme manager for the Moors for the Future Partnership said: “As many gardeners across the country are selecting their seeds for this year, we too are doing the same but on a much larger-scale.

“Time is also a factor – it can take up to three years just for the native species to establish, and over that period we have to carry out a number of phases of work, such as lime, seed and fertiliser, to support the growth of the new vegetation.

“The work programme is huge but the rewards for us all are great.”