DARWEN Moors are slowly taking on a new lease of life – after decades of neglect.

A vast restoration and conservative project is under way, spearheaded by the Lord’s Hall Estate and backed by United Utilities, Natural England and Blackburn with Darwen council.

Leading local experts are working on wide-ranging improvements, among them ornithologist Steve Martin, ecologist Peter Jepson, farming contractor Stephen Entwistle and experienced moorland contractors ConserveFor.

Rewetting sound a bit technical, but it’s simply creating hundreds of small dams in the old drainage ditches which were cut into the moors in the 1940s.

They will hold water for longer and encourage the creation of more peat and the growth of sphagnum moss which will lead to one of the biggest carbon sequestration initiatives in the area.

Peter is leading replanting, transferring heather to bald areas and looking at recovering heather from large areas of “white” grass caused by historic over-grazing.

In time there will be rarer species of dwarf cornel, cowberry and crowberry while we will be strengthening outcrops of whinberry.

Just imagine pouring fresh cream on to pies dripping with tasty berries!

All these initiatives are helping to bring the birds back – among them breeding curlews, golden plover, red grouse, merlin, and peregrine falcons. Flocks of lapwings could soon be seen around the edges of Darwen and Turton moors.

Benches are being restored and litter bins are being installed at busy intersections. Emptying them will be one of the many jobs for young warden James Readfern!

Access tracks are being improved for emergency access for such as Bolton Mountain Rescue and fire and rescue teams.

Visitors to the moors will see new ponds being built and firebreaks being mown alongside paths.

Says James: “Moorland fires have been a problem around here for years. We are doing all we can to stop them flaring up.”

Other work under way is taking out redundant fence-lines and barbed wire and picking up a lot of industrial rubbish to bring the moors back to their natural glory – hopefully with a fully restored Jubilee Tower standing majestically over the vast expanse of some 2,000 acres of peat, heather, blanket bogs, clay deposits and small ponds and dams, atop a layer of impermeable millstone grit.

Many of the landmark Darwen buildings are constructed of this stone, much of it quarried in the Victorian era.

Lord’s Hall, built in the late 1700s and the highest house in Darwen, has undergone a lot of changes over the years but now it is being renovated and brought back carefully to its former glory.