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Blakemere Moss



OS Grid ref:- SJ5471

Blakemere Moss at Delamere Forest is a reclaimed wetland area. The Moss was originally formed from two kettle holes (water filled hollows formed by a detached mass of glacial ice melted in situ towards the end of the last ice age). Delamere Forest is made up of more than 100 peatland basins and includes several sites of rare 'quaking' bogland, a phenomenon in which sphagnum mosses form a carpet above peaty water that appears to tremble when trodden on.

Blakemere Moss

The area was drained from the 1800's, supposedly by prisoners from the Napoleonic Wars and planted with trees, (mainly oak and Scot's Pine) between 1793-1815 to provide timber for shipbuilding. The Forestry Commission planted the moss with pine and western hemlock during the 1940s, which proved uneconomic. In the late 1990's the Commission allowed the area to re-flood again naturally.

Blakemere Moss

The restored lake now provides a habitat for wildlife, particularly birds including Greylags, Canada Geese, Black-headed Gulls, Coots, Mallards and Lapwings. It has been rapidly recolonised by rare mosses such as the orange-brown Sphagnum pulchrum as well as wildlife like diving beetles and great crested newts. Folowing the success of this project, a new project has been launched by the Forestry Commision to restore the lost meres and mosses at Delamere Forest.


A circular walk around Blakemere Moss


Delamere Forest

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