During the winter of 2015/16 Tilhill Forestry secured a contract on the Humberhead Peatlands National Nature Reserve with Natural England via competitive tender through a national framework agreement. The Phase 1 project objective was to clear approximately 114ha of birch and rhododendron, through a combination of motor- manual cutting and mechanical flailing to ground level.
The clearance work was needed on Hatfield and Thorne Moors, close to Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Both moors were formerly milled for peat for both domestic and commercial use from the 1700s to 2004. The Humberhead Peatlands are designated under the EU Habitats and Birds Directives and are the UK’s largest lowland raised bog complex.