Cumbria forest to be trimmed

Spadeadam Forest, Cumbria, is being returned to its ancient character as work begins to restore more of the Border Mires.

The 12,000 acre forest, which is mostly managed by the Forestry Commission, is a key haven for woodland wildlife, but also contains some of the rarest plants in England in its many peat bogs. Royal Air Force Spadeadam, the only Electronic Warfare Tactics Facility in the UK, covers 9600 acres, or eighty per cent of this area.

Now more than 145,000 trees are being felled over 200 acres of mainly wet terrain to revitalise these bogs, which formed after the last Ice Age, 10,000 years ago. RAF Spadeadam is a key partner in bog restoration efforts and low-level bombing exercises have been suspended to allow timber to be harvested.

Spadeadam was planted by the Forestry Commission in the 20th century to shore up the nation's depleted timber reserves after two world wars. The trees are a valuable and sustainable resource, but some of the boggiest areas were also planted, which are vital habitats for rare plants, birds and spectacular insects. Now conservation is top of the agenda for these precious ancient mires.