An iconic nature reserve in the Peak District has been granted fresh protection in a bid to help tackle the climate and nature crises.

Kinder Scout, which is located at the highest point of the national park, has been extended by one quarter.

The National Trust, which cares for the site, said it “holds the key to so many benefits for our environment”.

But decades of intensive management has resulted in considerable environmental harm to the fragile moorland ecosystem, including carbon-rich peat bogs.

Craig Best, general manager for the Peak District at the National Trust, said: “When we started caring for Kinder in 1982, the mountain was a barren moonscape of bare peat, degraded by human activity over the centuries.

“However, following almost 40 years of restoration work with our partners and volunteers, the [National Nature Reserve] is being transformed into a plateau of healthy peat bogs.”

Following a submission by Wild Moors to the Trust’s grouse shooting review held in the spring, the landowner has taken steps to restrict intensive management of its sites in the Peak District for game bird shooting.

This includes adopting a complete ban on burning peatlands, no longer permitting the trapping and snaring of predators for driving up game bird numbers for shooting and ending the use of medicated grit by shooting tenants.

It has also seen seven rare hen harriers fledging from the site this spring, although concerns remain for the safety of the birds following a string of incidents of illegal persecution on the Trust’s moors.

Wild Moors, which has welcomed the progress, is continuing to encourage the Trust to build on the move by ending its grouse shooting leases altogether.

“Visitors to the National Trust’s moors should know that the red grouse they see are exploited as feathered targets to be killed for entertainment,” says Wild Moors Executive Director Luke Steele. “As opposition to grouse shooting continues to grow, Wild Moors is calling on the National Trust to truly turn its Peak District moors into a nature reserve where wildlife is left in peace and consign this cruel and damaging practice to the history books.”