News, Manchester
An ancient wetland at the “forefront of nature recovery” in a heavily urbanised area has been unveiled as a new nature reserve.
Risley, Holcroft and Chat Moss National Nature Reserve (NNRs) in Greater Manchester and Cheshire is part of the King’s Series of 25 NNRs being developed to mark King Charles’s coronation.
It spans nearly 529 hectares across 11 sites of the lowland peatland of Salford, Warrington and Wigan.
Natural England described the sites as “superheroes in the fight against climate change” by soaking up and locking in carbon.
It said the area is being transformed into a resilient and inspirational landscape.
Dr Paul Thomas from Natural England told Radio Manchester the nature reserve had the “wow factor” for visitors to enjoy wildlife and for nature to thrive.
“It is an ancient wetland that is wild,” he said.
“We started off with individual sites but we have started to link them all together to make something that’s bigger… so nature has got a chance then.”
The senior officer for peat and wetlands said. “We have these hotspot sites for nature but it can spread out and join between the sites and move.
“Species have got the chance to move.”
The area has a hugely important carbon storage sink described as the “rainforests of the North”.
Dr Thomas said the landscape was recovering after taking a battering during the Victorian era.
“The landscape was used for the cutting of the peat by hand for horse bedding. Liverpool and Manchester were growing at the time with loads of horses in the cities.
“They needed bedding… so the peat was dug up and loaded on trains and taken into the cities to use as horse bedding.”
Seven partners are collaborating on the nature reserve after working together across this landscape for the past two decades in the Great Manchester Wetlands partnership.
