An innovative scheme to rapidly rewet peat on upland moors is protecting landscapes and communities from extremes such as wildfire and flooding, conservationists said.

More than 3,000 “scallop bunds” – semi-circular embankments a few metres wide – have been created across hundreds of acres of upland peat on the National Trust’s Holcombe Moor, north of Manchester.

The bunds, which are built of peat and re-covered with vegetation to protect it, capture rainwater in thousands of spots at the top of the moor.