Plants that eat animals - in Eccles!

WANDERING out of Eccles and onto the moss I had no idea that carnivores were still present.

- ALEX CRITCHLEY

It’s OK, wolves and bears have not been reintroduced as part of some secret rewilding project, but we do have carnivorous plants on the mosses of Lancashire and Greater Manchester.

After 100 years absent from the region, two rare carnivorous plant species were reintroduced in summer to Winmarleigh Moss in Lancashire.

The idea of carnivorous plants in the region is a wild and crazy thought.

When you think about these plants, it’s in the rainforests and other exotic environments, not just a few miles outside Garstang.

But these are native UK plants, and they belong back in our bogs. In fact, we have at least 11 species of these insect-eating wonders in the UK, most of which inhabit our precious peatlands. Look out for carpets of sundew on Cadishead, Little Woolden and Astley mosses.

Habitat destruction has meant many of these rarities are now missing from the lands where they once thrived.