Earystane & Scard

Earystane & Scard is one of our island’s landscape gems, a wonderful area for nature-lovers and walkers. Its provides habitats vital for our biodiversity including peatland and a ‘floating bog’. It also is home to bats, rare fungi, endangered birds and other wildlife.

Flora and Fauna

This area of our uplands and its plantation has a huge impact on the biodiversity at a local level here on the island. A failed crop plantation from the late 1950s now provides about 125 acres of outstanding habitat, with temperate rainforest like conditions and exceptional structure, always good for invertebrates.

Wildlife

Earystane & Scard provides an area where wildlife can thrive, largely undisturbed. Birds, bats, hares, hedgehogs and insects have all found a home there.

Rare Habitats

Earystane and Scard has among its treasures a rare example of a floating bog. This area has been nominated as an ASSI by Manx Wildlife Trust.

Endangered species

Earystane & Scard is home to a number of endangered bird species including hen harriers, curlews and long eared owls – Britain’s rarest owl species.

Flora and Fungi

Earystane & Scard contains rare fungi and other flora, as well as being a rich wildlife habitat.

Peatland

Our uplands include most of the island’s heathlands: these contain peat which has formed over thousands of years and is vital for capturing carbon and storing carbon from the atmosphere. They are an important element in helping to combat global warming.

Government has played an important role in the maintenance of our uplands. A large part of these areas is government-owned and leased to tenant farmers. DEFA’s Agri Environment Scheme for farm payments has encouraged and supported upland farmers in maintaining this special, nature-friendly environment.

Any development on the heathland at Earystane & Scard runs the risk of releasing more carbon into the atmosphere than could be compensated for through ‘green’ energy gains.