About Us
History
The Humberhead Peatlands, located in South Yorkshire, are part of the last remnants of a large wetland that occupied the floodplain of the Humberhead Levels thousands of years ago.
The Humberhead Peatlands comprises Thorne, Hatfield, Goole, and Crowle Moors and are designated as National Nature Reserves. It represents the largest area of raised bog wilderness in lowland UK at 2,887 hectares in size.
Threatened Habitat
Lowland raised bog is one of western Europe’s rarest and most threatened habitats. Around 94% of this unique habitat has been destroyed or damaged in the UK.
The Humberhead Peatlands is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) for its habitat and an internationally important breeding site for the nocturnal, insect-feeding nightjar which was responsible for the area being declared as a Special Protection Area (SPA) under the European Birds Directive.
The two main sites, Thorne and Hatfield Moors, were both exploited for peat over many centuries. During the 20th century the integrity of the bog and its unique biodiversity were severely threatened by mechanised peat extraction and associated drainage. These activities finally ended in 2004 and provided the opportunity to restore the UK’s largest area of degraded lowland raised bog.