Rhos Goch (New LIFE for Welsh Raised Bogs)

The four-year LIFE Welsh Raised Bogs project will help seven of the most important raised bogs in Wales become even better places for wildlife. What’s special about raised bogs? Raised bogs might look barren, but did you know they are great for the environment, wildlife and people? They: • give a home to rare plants and wildlife • store carbon from the atmosphere • store and purify water • give a fascinating insight into our environmental history • offer great places to visit and enjoy nature at its best. Rhos Goch is one of seven sites that will undergo restoration work. Restoration work will also take place at Cors Caron and Cors Fochno National Nature Reserves (NNRs), and bogs, near Trawsfynydd, Fishguard, Crosshands and Crickhowell. This work has been funded by an EU LIFE programme grant and Natural Resources Wales, with support from Welsh Government and the Snowdonia National Park Authority. (LIFE16 NAT/UK/000646).

Rhos Goch is designated as a National Nature Reserve (NNR). It is one of the few remaining sites in the UK which boasts a sequence of rare wetland habitats leading to the raised bog at the north eastern end of the site.

With the help of local communities, landowners and contractors we are improving the condition of the peatland by restoring the natural water levels, removing scrub and undertaking maintenance work on the ditches.

A section of ditch has been restored to improve the critical marginal drainage regime, this will prevent nutrient rich water from neighbouring land flowing on to the edge of the site which has allowed an over-dominance of bulrush, outcompeting the natural vegetation. 16ha of scrub has been treated. Further work planned as part of the project include installation of low elevation contour bunds to intercept water run off in the surface of the peat. Light grazing will be introduced to the site to reduce the dominance of purple moor grass and to also reduce scrub establishment, these will both allow specialist bog plants to thrive.