RSPB Scotland: Forsinard Flows Peatland Restoration, Caol 2025-26

Tender description

Tender for the supply of Reprofiling Peatland Restoration Works on Caol, Forsinard Flows (80.55ha) Lot 1: The works form part of a continuing programme of targeted forest to bog restoration which has been carried out at Forsinard by RSPB since 1997 with the long-term aim of restoring the blanket bogs of the Flows back to their pre-1970 naturally unafforested state. The site was felled to waste in 2002-2004 when the trees were between 14 and 18 years old. It then received restoration treatments in 2014-2016 for brash crushing and furrow blocking. Brash and stumps present on site from this period are very brittle due to their age. Management since was limited to the control of regenerating conifers done on several occasions, the latest between 2022 and 2025, therefore regen is not expected to be an issue for the work, apart from some material left on the ground. Re-profiling in areas previously furrow blocked with full height dams. Bog vegetation and Sphagnum moss that has colonised the drains should be removed from the drains before infilling and placed on top of the newly reprofiled surface in a step-wise progression down each furrow. Infilling will be achieved by firstly crushing down all dead tree material so that all stems and branches lie in the bottom of the furrows and below the height of the original ground surface (i.e. the section between the plough throws). The excavator will then use a bucket to pull/push stumps, and ridge vegetation and peat into furrows, keeping the vegetated turf upright. The strip of bare ground left behind from moving the ridge material into the furrow will then we covered with the furrow vegetation removed from the next section before infilling. Once a block is complete, it is then cross-tracked to smooth the surface. Cross-tracking will be achieved by driving a tracked, low-ground-pressure excavator at right angles to the plough-lines to further flatten the topography and any tree material. The aim of this process will be to level the ridged ground that resulted from the ploughing operation during historical conifer planting. This treatment will be carried out on top of existing furrow blocking.