Two interpretation panels were recently installed at the entrance to the Glenshee Ski Centre’s Base Café. The café is just off the main Braemar to Perth road (the A93) and is the UK’s highest A road at 665m. This is a popular all year round attraction and the A0 panels are clearly visible as you enter the café.
Restoration of peatland habitats took place adjacent to the ski resort on the slopes of the Cairnwell and Meall Odhar in October 2015. The site contained extensive areas of peat hags and eroded gullies (11.3km in length) and some very large patches of bare peat (5.54ha in total). Hags were re-profiled and bare peat treated with sphagnum-rich mulch by the contractors Barker & Bland. Despite an unprecedented storm event in December 2015, the work (mostly) stayed in place. However, the effectiveness of the sphagnum-rich mulch technique remains to be seen as few plants have established yet and the impact of the extreme climate (most of the site is above 700m) is slowly breaking up the mulch.
Stephen Corcoran
Cairngorms National Park
Glenshee bare peat: before & after
Glenshee hags: before & after
