The Humberhead Peatlands

The Humberhead Peatlands comprise Hatfield Moors and Thorne Moors - with its component parts Goole Moors, Crowle Moors and Rawcliffe Moors. They are all nationally and internationally important for their wildlife.

The Humberhead Peatlands are a meeting place for northern and southern species. A remarkably large number of plants and animals are on their range edge here, resulting in a unique species mix

At one time, about 7% of Britain was peatland. Most was in the form of extensive upland blanket mire – just over 5% of that was lowland raised mire. Now only 6% of that lowland raised mire survives, and Thorne and Hatfield Moors represents about a third of it.

A unique environment

These raised mires are rather different from other lowland raised mires in Britain and are unique as an ecosystem type. Thorne and Hatfield Moors are the two largest lowland raised mires in Britain, covering a total of approximately 3000 hectares. They are considered to be the only true Continental raised mires in Britain with strong affinities with the Baltic lowlands.

Thorne and Hatfield Moors are notified as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Special Protection Areas under the European Birds Directive, Special Areas of Conservation under European Habitats Directive and they qualify as Wetlands of International Importance under the terms of the Ramsar Convention.

Invertebrate interest

In terms of its invertebrate fauna, Thorne Moors is the richest peatland site in Britain. It contains the fourth largest assemblage of rare species of any British site irrespective of habitat. Hatfield Moor is in the top ten of such sites and yet is acknowledged as being under-recorded.

So far the recorded insect fauna of both Moors exceeds 5500 species - around 25% of British fauna - with over 30 Red Data Book species and over 250 nationally scarce species. Six species are known from no other sites in Britain, including three that were new to Britain in 1992.

The Moors are notable as the only British localities for the Red Data Book Category 1 (RDB1) ground beetle Bembidion humerale and the RDB1 pill beetle Curimopsis nigrita, both of which are rare throughout Europe. Phaonia jaroschewskii, a RDB2 Muscid is currently known only from the Moors in Britain. Further species are added each year.

Botanical interest includes royal fern, bog rosemary, the insectivorous round leaved sundew and bladderwort, and the greater yellow-rattle.

Historical records

The acidic peat of the Moors creates an environment in which few bacteria survive and where there is minimal free oxygen. This inhibits the process of decay and has allowed a veritable Domesday archive of four millennia to be preserved. Charred tree stumps yield rare clues to the activities of Bronze Age human communities - as the mire dries, this record is lost forever.

A natural climate regulator

Peat bogs are huge carbon stores. The bog vegetation removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, trapping it in the layers of peat. In this way peat bogs act as a natural carbon sinks. The continued drainage and extraction of peat resources allows carbon to be released back into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases, adding to the problem of global warming.

Peat extraction

Modern methods of peat extraction, especially the introduction of industrial strip milling, has transformed the landscape of the Moors. What has taken four thousand years to accumulate and has supported traditional peat harvesting for at least six hundred years. But time has almost run out for the Humberhead Peatlands as the corporate carnage of industrial peat mining has reduced these rich, diverse and unique habitats to bare peat on which life struggles to re-establish itself. Now a national nature reserve, peat cutting draws to an end on both moors. The battle to ‘restore’ these last lowland raised mires is just beginning…

A Neolithic trackway

Quite by accident in October 2004 an amazing discovery was made by M Oliver a retired mineral planning officer and Forum member. Out on the moor he found what he considered an unnatural wooden configuration, which he described as ‘the hand of man’ having been at work. What remained not harvested as ‘multi purpose compost’ was subsequently investigated and it has been dated as Neolithic in origin. There is debate still as to the purpose and function of the structure. Whilst as yet, there appears to be no definitive explanation, it does prove beyond the shadow of a doubt the value of these unique moors, for not only their incredible biodiversity but their unique archive of climate change and anthropomorphic interest.

The Humberhead Levels

The Humberhead Peatlands is itself part of the Humberhead Levels area. This is a large tract of landscape, less than 10m above sea-level, occupying the area of the former pro-glacial Lake Humber. Its unity of character is derived from this glacial impoundment, and the alluvial deposits which resulted, together with a long history of drainage and ‘warping’ which is the seasonal impounding of tidal silts to enhance the soils. It is bounded to the west by the Southern Magnesian Limestone ridge and to the east by the Yorkshire Wolds and the Northern Lincolnshire Edge with Coversands area. To the north it merges gradually into the slightly more undulating landscape of the Vale of York at the line of the Escrick moraine and to the south, past Retford, it merges with the Trent and Belvoir vales.

The Forum's remit includes of this area, particularly south of the Rivers Aire and Ouse, as it contains many unique features which complement and enhance the Humber Peatlands. The map below is reproduced with the permission of Natural England.

Humberhead Levels

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