Discovery trails in South Yorkshire: natural and historic wonders collide at Hatfield Moors

"Look!" Mick Oliver, my guide, takes a big leap on the brushy ground. To my surprise, the earth undulates under our feet. “Did you see the heather vibrate? Just below us, the peat is about 95% water,” he says. "We literally walk on water."
I'm at Hatfield Moors, 13 miles east of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, to explore a habitat rare: the largest raised bog in the UK. . Olivier, a passionate and active octogenarian and former mine surveyor, is part of a management group responsible for the conservation of the moors. He shares some of his in-depth knowledge of flora, fauna and mycelium - acquired over 30 years of walking, working, studying and, at times, fighting for this land - before I explore the 1,400 hectare (3,500 acre) wetland area.
< img alt="Hatfield Moors" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1001fd636561fa10c4e5bf97ea4e0fd54ec41e19/0_605_4032_2419/master/4032.jpg? hatfield moors is a post-industrial landscape. Once extensively mined for peat, it was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the 1990s and gained European protection as an Important Conservation Area. It is managed by Natural England and is home to superb walks, rare wildlife and plants, an abandoned RAF base and a thriving Buddhist community. The flora ranges from patches of young hardwood forests and open scrub - thick with heather and ferns and dotted with pine trees - to lakes, ponds and expanses of wetlands.
The moor was once a raised bog and part of the conservation work involves 'rewetting'. Water levels are raised through the construction of weirs, canals and underground dams and the felling of trees. "Some of these plants have been dormant in the parched peat for four decades, but since the rewetting they're coming back," Oliver said. The plants and fungi in question include common cottongrass and hare's tail cottongrass, bog rosemary, snuff fungus, and sphagnum moss, which are largely responsible for the formation of peat after they die.

Lifestyle Sep 27, 2022 0 74 Add to Reading List

Discovery trails in South Yorkshire: natural and historic wonders collide at Hatfield Moors

"Look!" Mick Oliver, my guide, takes a big leap on the brushy ground. To my surprise, the earth undulates under our feet. “Did you see the heather vibrate? Just below us, the peat is about 95% water,” he says. "We literally walk on water."

I'm at Hatfield Moors, 13 miles east of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, to explore a habitat rare: the largest raised bog in the UK. . Olivier, a passionate and active octogenarian and former mine surveyor, is part of a management group responsible for the conservation of the moors. He shares some of his in-depth knowledge of flora, fauna and mycelium - acquired over 30 years of walking, working, studying and, at times, fighting for this land - before I explore the 1,400 hectare (3,500 acre) wetland area.

< img alt="Hatfield Moors" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1001fd636561fa10c4e5bf97ea4e0fd54ec41e19/0_605_4032_2419/master/4032.jpg? hatfield moors is a post-industrial landscape. Once extensively mined for peat, it was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the 1990s and gained European protection as an Important Conservation Area. It is managed by Natural England and is home to superb walks, rare wildlife and plants, an abandoned RAF base and a thriving Buddhist community. The flora ranges from patches of young hardwood forests and open scrub - thick with heather and ferns and dotted with pine trees - to lakes, ponds and expanses of wetlands.

The moor was once a raised bog and part of the conservation work involves 'rewetting'. Water levels are raised through the construction of weirs, canals and underground dams and the felling of trees. "Some of these plants have been dormant in the parched peat for four decades, but since the rewetting they're coming back," Oliver said. The plants and fungi in question include common cottongrass and hare's tail cottongrass, bog rosemary, snuff fungus, and sphagnum moss, which are largely responsible for the formation of peat after they die.