This project is supported by the Scottish Government's Peatland ACTION Fund delivered in partnership with NatureScot and other agencies.
£4.9 million raised through Omaze to protect precious peatlands
We're thrilled to share that you’ve broken an Omaze record, and we can’t thank you enough! Through July and August, you had the chance to win a Coastal House in Cornwall worth £4.5 million. Omaze promised at least £1 million raised would help to protect precious peatlands. Thanks to your incredible interest and generosity, you have raised the most money for a charity so far in Omaze history.
Posted 5 min read
On this page
We're delighted to say that we’ll be receiving £4.9 million from the Omaze Cornwall House Draw!
The incredible amount of money you have raised will help to protect and restore our peatlands at a variety of different sites across the UK. Your generosity will help us to provide a home for threatened wildlife and help to tackle the climate emergency. Today, we’re announcing two of the projects which will benefit from the funding.
Bile Buidhe – Cairngorms
The wild and rugged Cairngorms National Park is a mosaic of important habitats, home to some of the country’s highest mountains and some of our most threatened species. Golden Eagles soar over peat bogs, Crested Tits nest in the ancient woodlands and Capercaillies lek in the pine forests.
RSPB Abernethy is part of Cairngorms Connect. This partnership project has a 200-year vision to enhance habitats, species and ecological processes across a vast area within the National Park.
Bile Budhe, a peatland in the Abernethy nature reserve, sits at 700 metres high. Restoring the bog here is a challenge. The team travel by 4x4 and then hike, a journey which can take almost two hours just to reach the bog! The site can be covered in snow for up to five months of the year, and the high altitude means that works are often impacted due to extreme weather.
With the help of our partners, we’ve taken on the challenge of restoring the land here. Slowing the flow of water allows peat to form, while helping bog plants to reestablish is reducing further erosion.
Now, thanks to your entries to the Cornwall House Draw, the Omaze funding Cairngorms National Park Authority via the Cairngorms Peatland ACTION grant fund, will enable us to restore 50 hectares of peat bog – that’s the equivalent of roughly 70 football pitches!
Black Moss – Orkney
While healthy peatland is one of our greatest superpowers in tackling the nature and climate emergency, damaged bogs actually produce emissions. Black Moss, at RSPB Birsay Moors, is one of the most heavily degraded areas of peat in Orkney. Omaze funding could allow for an additional 16 hectares of essential bog restoration, alongside our wider work with NatureScot’s Peatland ACTION Fund.
Orkney is 10 miles from the coast of north Scotland. The 70 islands are home to important populations of threatened species: from seabirds to Short-eared Owls.
Ground nesting birds thrive here on Orkney. Curlews raise their chicks in the grass; they probe through wet vegetation and shallow pools to find invertebrates to feed young, hungry beaks. Hen Harriers, who feast on the endemic Orkney Voles, rely on the islands – they are home to 25% of the UK’s population of these threatened birds of prey.
Thanks to you, the restoration of the bog at Black Moss will safeguard these species strongholds by improving food sources and nesting opportunities. As well as tackling the nature and climate emergencies, the funding will also allow the team to continue to work with local schools to ensure the importance of peatlands are taught to the community’s children.
Thank you
Why peatlands matter
Peatlands are one of nature’s greatest superpowers. They provide a home for some of the UK’s rarest birds, plants and bugs. And they play a vital role in helping to tackle the nature and climate emergency.
What is Peatland? Can it save the planet?
Peatlands improve the quality of our water (70% of drinking water comes from areas dominated by peatland), help prevent floods, and are home to wonderful birds and other wildlife, from skydancing Hen Harriers, to hares and even insect-eating sundew plants. They also lock away carbon, so benefit the environment. Peatland covers just 3% of the planet, yet it stores more carbon than all the world’s forests. They’re also wonderful wild places to enjoy.
But they’re in trouble. In the UK, around 80% of these wet, boggy landscapes are damaged or deteriorating. This damage threatens the amazing peatland wildlife, reduces the quality of our water, and increases the risk of flooding. It also causes the stored carbon to be released back into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.
How you can help
The Omaze Cornwall House Draw has now closed, but there are still plenty of opportunities for you to help the RSPB to protect and restore our wildlife and wild places. Nature is in crisis, but with you on board, we can take action to save it.
Right now, we need your help to Protect our Birds and Restore our Nature:
If you’ve enjoyed learning about our work on peatlands, then you can continue to support our habitat restoration work, along with our world-leading science and nature-friendly campaigning, by joining us as an RSPB member.
