On the Isle of Man, a small Uplands team led by Peatland Officer Sarah Hickey is working to restore roughly 8,000 hectares of damaged hillside peat bog. Peat, formed over thousands of years, stores more carbon than any other soil on Earth, but centuries of turf-cutting for fuel left bare, eroding scars that still collapse today and wash sediment into reservoirs. Restoring these bogs matters for climate, flood prevention, water quality and wildlife, particularly as wildfires become more frequent in summer.

Repair work involves reshaping bare peat with lightweight diggers, folding vegetation back over exposed ground, and securing it with bio-logs and netting so sphagnum moss can regrow, since the moss itself helps create healthy, water-retentive bog habitat. Peat-cutting, or turbary, was banned on the island in 2020, but legacy damage persists. Healthy bog can be up to 90% water, helps filter sediment and reduce flood risk, and supports ground-nesting birds like hen harriers and dense invertebrate life; Hickey notes that restored sites can attract wildlife, such as breeding dragonflies, almost immediately.