Nidderdale

This site is intermediate in scale with each sub-catchment covering about 15 ha of blanket bog. It is E/SE facing and located at about 450 m a.s.l. The site is the driest site and mostly covered by heather-dominated blanket bog with considerable sedge and Sphagnum presence in places and some extensive rush cover near the lower stream sections. Peat is mostly intact and of a depth of mostly about 1.5 m. However, there is some erosion, particularly along the slopes and gullies. There are some past drainage ditches (dug in the 1960/70s), which all show natural infilling of peat (i.e. low drainage). Elsewhere open ditches were infilled in 2011/12 in addition to other restoration work.

The site has been under long-term burn rotation and both sub-catchments have recently partly been mown in small areas to assess the feasibility of mowing instead of burning.

The catchment is part of a private estate within a Yorkshire Water (YW) water catchment.

Control and Treatment catchment

Nidderdale treatment sub-catchment - not so nice this time!