East Dartmoor’s Mires

East Dartmoor National Nature Reserve contains a diverse mosaic of habitats across its 365 hectares. One habitat type that can sometimes be overlooked amongst the larger, more conspicuous woodlands and heaths are the mires.Mires are wet and acidic habitats dominated by layers of partially decayed vegetation, known as peat, often 0.5 - 3.0 m deep. Hidden amongst combes or on the open moors, mires include rain-fed blanket bogs and valley-positioned fens which receive their water and mineral-supply from both the atmosphere and the surrounding ground.

Dartmoor ponies will be grazing the newly cleared mire habitat areas next year

Mire management largely involves controlling the surrounding scrub to prevent succession to woodland. Grazing cattle and ponies also play an important role, removing unwanted scrub and poaching the ground. Dartmoor ponies were successfully introduced to Vinnimore mire this year and have removed large amounts of scrub and bracken, opening up space for mire species to move into. Peat and Birch dams have also been used in parts of Trendlebere Coombe to raise the water table to encourage the spread of mire habitat there.

Written by Daniel Brown

Conservation Assistant