Manx Wildlife Trust (MWT) have recently completed the purchase of land adjacent to their MWT Lough Cranstal Nature Reserve in the north of the Island. The wider Lough Cranstal area, comprising some 70 acres, is of outstanding ecological importance for its wetland habitats and associated flora and fauna. MWT acquired their original site in 1989 via bequest, illustrating the real impact that legacies have on conservation. MWT Lough Cranstal Nature Reserve is an extremely boggy area of marsh and curragh associated with the Cranstal Trench.  It provides a home for many species including common twayblade, marsh-marigold, lady's smock, ragged-robin, meadowsweet, greater pond sedge, yellow iris and purple loosestrife. The reserve also boasts areas of deep peat, some over 2 metres deep, which is known to be a powerful carbon store.

Lough Cranstal is a very wild site, and the management of the reserve is minimal, leaving it largely undisturbed. Although access is very limited and the rough terrain makes visiting the site difficult, MWT plans to hold occasional engagement events for MWT members as well as producing a video guide to the wildlife that calls it home.

As an MWT nature reserve, the new piece of land is now protected in perpetuity as one of the most biologically diverse parcels of land and one of the Island’s most important sites for nature, preventing damaging activities such as drainage and habitat clearance. It is hoped that the purchase will also help with plans to designate the whole Lough Cranstal site as an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI).