Red Moss is a wetland mossland in Greater Manchester, located south of Horwich and east of Blackrod. (Grid Reference SD635104 ). This is a national Site of Special Scientific Interest in the United Kingdom, due to its biodiversity and undisturbed character. Pollen analysis has revealed the first peat deposits of the northwest's mosslands to be from around 8,000 years BC making Red Moss an impressive 10,000 years old. [1] Red Moss covers an area of 47.2 hectares. [2] A severed female head was discovered in Red Moss in the 19th century dating from the Bronze Age or early Iron Age. [3]
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is inundated by water, either permanently or seasonally, where oxygen-free processes prevail. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil. Wetlands play a number of functions, including water purification, water storage, processing of carbon and other nutrients, stabilization of shorelines, and support of plants and animals. Wetlands are also considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal life. Whether any individual wetland performs these functions, and the degree to which it performs them, depends on characteristics of that wetland and the lands and waters near it. Methods for rapidly assessing these functions, wetland ecological health, and general wetland condition have been developed in many regions and have contributed to wetland conservation partly by raising public awareness of the functions and the ecosystem services some wetlands provide.
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses, and in a majority of cases, sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, quagmire, and muskeg; alkaline mires are called fens. They are frequently covered in ericaceous shrubs rooted in the sphagnum moss and peat. The gradual accumulation of decayed plant material in a bog functions as a carbon sink.
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the cities of Manchester and Salford. Greater Manchester was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972; and designated a functional city region on 1 April 2011.
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council owns most of the moss, but parts of the site are also owned by British Rail and United Utilities. In 1999, the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside was asked to manage the area of land owned by Bolton Council with the aim of restoring suitable water levels and conditions for the growth of mossland species. [1]
The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It is named after its largest settlement, the large town of Bolton, but covers a far larger area which includes Blackrod, Farnworth, Horwich, Kearsley and Westhoughton, and a suburban and rural element from the West Pennine Moors. The borough has a population of 276,800, and is administered from Bolton Town Hall.
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages between 1994 and 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, it became an independent statutory corporation in 1962 designated as the British Railways Board.
United Utilities Group plc (UU), the United Kingdom's largest listed water company, was founded in 1995 as a result of the merger of North West Water and NORWEB. The group manages the regulated water and waste water network in North West England, which includes Cumbria, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside, which have a combined population of nearly seven million.
