A major peatland restoration project at Westhay Moor Nature Reserve, near Glastonbury, has reached a key milestone with the successful rehabilitation of 24 hectares of degraded land.

Somerset Wildlife Trust confirmed that work to restore the reserve's peat soils — a critical carbon store and wildlife habitat — has now been completed after 18 months. Westhay Moor is part of the Somerset Wetlands National Nature Reserve, a landscape recognised nationally for its ecological importance.

The restoration used a specialist method known as "deep trench cell bunding", which slows water loss from the peat and helps rehydrate the soil. The technique, developed in north-west England, was used for the first time in Somerset at neighbouring Shapwick Heath before being rolled out at Westhay Moor.

Peatlands are a powerful natural carbon store, containing more than 30% of the world's soil carbon despite covering only 3% of the Earth's surface. Most of England's peatlands are now degraded, following decades of drainage and peat extraction, and are increasingly vulnerable to drying out.

Since the work at Westhay was completed, Somerset Wildlife Trust has recorded several signs of ecological recovery. Lapwings have been seen nesting in newly restored areas, and sphagnum moss — key to maintaining healthy peat — is appearing more widely, including in places where it was not previously recorded.

Sian Russell, Peatland Partnership Project Coordinator, said: "We are currently in a climate emergency, and we need to take bold action to protect our peatlands and ensure the vital carbon they store stays locked up and in the ground. These works are a massive step forward in the rehabilitation of one of the largest remnants of lowland raised bog in the South West."

The wider Somerset Peatland Partnership project, hosted by the Trust, has funded feasibility studies at 11 sites across Somerset and North Somerset, with further restoration planned at locations including Westhay Heath and Moorlinch. The Westhay project was funded by the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme and the Landfill Communities Fund via Valencia Communities Fund.

Three Somerset-based subcontractors have been trained in the restoration technique to support future work in the county. Monitoring of the Westhay site will continue over the next five years, with staff and volunteers tracking vegetation changes and water levels as the peatland recovers.