'It ought to feel squelchy': plan to save drying-out Welsh peat uplands

The National Trust is encouraging Abergwesyn commoners to swap sheep for cattle, protecting environmentally crucial peatEven in midsummer, the hills above the market town of Rhayader in mid Wales should be so soggy that a walk results in unpleasantly damp hiking socks. "It ought to feel really squelchy here," said the National Trust's Alan Kearsley-Evans. "Ten or 20 years ago you'd have been ankle deep. Now your feet stay dry."Kearsley-Evans is general manager for a sprawling patch that includes the well known peaks of the Brecon Beacons and beaches of the Gower peninsula, but it is his work trying to help restore the much less familiar peat uplands of Abergwesyn common that he believes may be the most important. Continue reading...