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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · 4d

Sometimes my job looks like this 😂 #peatland restoration

Reposted by Sarah Hickey

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · 10d

Meet our contractors 🐶🐾 These two corgis are very experienced at #peatland restoration work and are highly skilled digger operators. They have the added advantage of having nice warm coats, ready for when the weather turns cold ❄️😊

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · 12d

#Peat and #whisky 😍

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · 12d

Peat and whisky have a long association🥃

As the importance of protecting and restoring peatlands is now recognised 💚 the Manx Whisky Company create their delicious whisky without the use of peat, using other ways of creating flavours 😋 It was great to show them around one of our sites!

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Reposted by Sarah Hickey

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · 14d

One of the best things about Autumn is the gorgeous colours 😍 This is the time of year where #sphagnum mosses become more vibrant and really stand out amongst other #peatland vegetation 💚 Cotton grass turns autumnal red and cladonia lichen (aka reindeer moss 🦌) adds a splash of white 😁

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · 15d

A family of shaggy ink cap mushrooms ☺️ #fungi

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · 16d

Sometimes simple interventions are all that are needed 😊 #peatland

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · 16d

What was once an eroding water channel is now a series of small pools 😀 Simple measures like installing these coir logs can slow the flow of water, reduce erosion and create small pools to benefit wildlife 🐦🦋

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · 19d

Encouraging signs after #peatland disturbance....lots of #sphagnum 😊

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · 19d

Just over ten years ago a landslide occurred😢 likely due to the presence of #peat pipes💦

A site visit today showed how the area is starting to fix itself 💚 #Sphagnum has grown around these tussocks, giving an insight as to how peatlands can start to develop after a major disturbance 😊

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · 19d

Hi Huw, it has been successful, although I'm afraid I don't have any bird statistics 😊

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · 22d

Any suggestions for this interesting #fungi found on a #peatland restoration site 🤔 It caught my attention as it looks like it has the '3 legs of Mann' 🇮🇲 on it ☺️ #isleofman

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Reposted by Sarah Hickey

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · 22d

Another guided walk in fabulous conditions 😂, this time for delegates at the Inter-island Environment Meeting #IIEM25 . We saw nothing of the surrounding hills 💚 but saw enough #peatland restoration, interesting fungi, mist and #sphagnum moss to keep everyone happy 💦🌿

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · 26d

Peat pipes can be really difficult to deal with, especially on steep, degraded #peatland 🤔

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · 26d

Peat pipes can sometimes be seen emerging from #peat hags, like this one on Snaefell. These underground channels form as water 💦 passes through cracks in the peat, slowly eroding the peat around it.

Sometimes the roof collapses to form a hole 😱 This one (photo 3) was nearly a metre deep!

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Reposted by Sarah Hickey

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · Sep 11

This piece of wood, likely hawthorn🌳 was found at the base of a #peat hag on Snaefell. Wet, acidic peat can preserve materials for a very long time. Without carbon-dating, it's impossible to tell exactly how long this wood has been buried, but it's likely to be THOUSANDS of years old 😮

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · Sep 10

Best thing about a rainy day...wizard chess in front of the fire 😊

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · Sep 10

Perfect weather to look around a #peatland restoration site 🤣

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · Sep 10

Yesterday we made the most of the beautiful weather 😆 to show #Tynwald members around our Beinn-y-Phott site.

Despite the typical 'bog' conditions 💨💦 we were able to look at the work that's been done to reprofile and revegetate eroding peat hags and slow the flow of water 😊

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Reposted by Sarah Hickey

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · Sep 8

It was great to be joined on Friday by Gareth from www.conservefor.co.uk 😊 We had a look at some of our #peatland sites and discussed different restoration methods. Gareth has many years of experience in this type of work and was happy to share his ideas while on the Island 👍

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · Sep 5

Today has been a sheep rescue kind of a day 🐑 (and yes, I did brave the crocodile infested #peaty swamp to pull it out🐊🤣) It turns out that coir logs on a sledge make quite a good floating rescue platform 😀

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · Sep 5

Clinging precariously to a #peat hag 😊

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · Sep 5

Beinn-y-Phott is one of the few places on the Island where fir clubmoss can be easily found🧐 Here it was found clinging to the overhanging edge of a peat hag💪These primitive, ancient plants reproduce by spores, like mosses, but are part of a group of vascular plants that are 400 million years old💚

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · Sep 3

Have a go at our interactive #peat map 😊

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · Sep 3

Find out about the depth and extent of upland #peat on the Isle of Man by viewing our new interactive peatland map 😁 You can also view photographs 📸 of restoration areas, at fixed points, which will show changes over time. Visit our website to find out more www.manxpeat.org/map

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · Sep 3

My daughters and I were joined on the hill by a pair of ravens yesterday ☺️ They were VERY close and were chatting away to us - a magical experience 😍

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · Sep 2

Lovely #peatland fungi 😊

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · Sep 2

This gorgeous, glowing mushroom was found growing among the #sphagnum 😍 It's amazing what you can find when you look closely 👀

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Reposted by Sarah Hickey

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · Aug 28

We've been impressed by how much vegetation has established on reprofiled #peat hags, however some places need a helping hand 👇 This hag had areas where the peat was still bare, so we've transplanted some small plugs 🌿 from the adjacent hillside 😊

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · Aug 28

I love that my job involves wandering the hills in wet musty days 😍

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Reposted by Sarah Hickey

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · Aug 26

Damming small drainage ditches can have an immediate effect. What was once an area of dried out bare #peat is now a small upland pool. This will keep the surrounding peat wet and create habitat for invertebrates and birds 🐦See the last three photos to see the pool infilling 😊

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Sarah Hickey @sarahehickey.bsky.social · Aug 22

Dragonflies🐲, one of the many benefits of #peatland restoration 😊

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · Aug 22

A magical moment 😍 when the newly created pools are visited by a dragonfly 🐉 laying it's eggs. The restoration of wet areas within peatlands benefits wildlife, carbon storage and drought resilience 😁

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Reposted by Sarah Hickey

Manx Peat Partnership @manxpeat.bsky.social · Aug 21

Cutting #peat for fuel in the past has left some areas of the hills with bare, eroding peat. In these places the first step is to slow the flow of water💦 which we have done here using coir logs. We are currently trialling growing our own moss for use on this site 🌿😊

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