Peatbogs in Planalto dos Graminhais were visited by scottish specialists

During the last week of February, the Sustainable Laurel Project received Norman Russell, manager at Forsinard Flows nature reserve in Scotland that is part of RSPB in the United Kingdom, and Alexander Payne, who is part of the British Bryological Society, a specialist in Bryophytes. They visited all the conservation actions accomplished in the Planalto dos Graminhais since 2011.

This trip had the purpose of visiting the work developed on the recovery of the Peatbogs area in Planalto dos Graminhais. During this week in the island of São Miguel, Norman and Alexander got to know the different intervention areas of the project and other natural areas of the island and spent most of the time with the project team discussing the progress made in the Graminhais area.


Norman Russell has given an important support to the planning of actions that have been carried out, following at close the project since 2010. Norman has a lot of experience in the area andis responsible for the managing og 20.000 ha of peatbog area in Scotland, being an excellent addition to the ongoing work of the Sustainable Laurel Project. In this visit, it was possible to see the results of the work done during the 2011 spring and revaluate and plan new actions for 2012. Alexander Payne also nelped the project, by sharing its knowledge about this kind of habitats. And was an excellent contribution to an adequate development of the work that is yet to come.

Throughout these days, 20 Bryophytes species were identified, of these 4 are Sphagnum sp. and 3 of these species have an important role on the vegetation recovery of Graminhais.


It’s worth noticing that Norman Russell visited São Miguel for the first time in 2010 to help coordinate the initial work of recovery of the Peatbogs. And has already visited the project three times since then and is very pleased by the progress done on the project. In turn Alexander Payne was on his first visit to the archipelago and was delighted with Graminhais and the island of São Miguel and promised to come back again.