Mike Dilger’s wildlife watching
Heather-clad moorland and the species that call it home
Anyone who takes a trip to Britain’s uplands in late summer is liable to leave with the colour purple burnt across their retinas. Swathes of heather often stretch as far as the eye can see. So, it would be easy to think that any further loss of, or damage to, the country’s moorland might be the least of conservationists’ many worries. But with our crowded isles proud custodians of about 75 per cent of the entire global total of heather-clad moorland, this is one habitat we should never take for granted.
Covering over a million hectares of our uplands, moors are mostly confined to the north and west of Britain. They dominate areas above the limit of enclosed agricultural land, but below the theoretical treeline of about 600m above sea level. Up here, the landscape may give the impression of being wild, woolly and relatively untouched. However, looks can be deceiving. Moorland has a long history of human intervention and management. Only the mountain peaks, rock faces and scree slopes should be considered true wilderness.
Moorland can be further subdivided into perennially moist blanket bog and acid
(and largely heather-free) grassland, both habitats previously covered in these pages. But moorland ‘proper’ is characterised by heather that is dry enough to walk across without the need for wellies.
Generally found on slopes carpeted by shallow peat or mineral soils kept moist by rain and mist, moorland is, crucially, well drained. It is also differentiated from its lowlying heathland counterpart by more than just altitude, since moorland is frequently important to the local economy. Vast tracts are currently under the stewardship of either hill farms or gameshooting estates. Heather, or ling, may appear to dominate, but other dwarf shrub species, such as bilberry, cowberry and crowberry, are here too. The precise mix varies according to climate, soils and how each location is drained and managed, so there is much variation between different sites. Western gorse, for example, tends to be a common feature in south-west
England, while the much rarer juniper is far more frequent in the Highlands.
The rich shrub flora and wild nature of moorland make it a considerable draw for breeding waders, especially golden plovers and curlew. Smaller birds, such as ring ouzels, meadow pipits and twite, will also all rear broods in the heather or close by. Well-conserved estates can be raptor heaven, with merlins, hen harriers and short-eared owls brightening up any upland visit between spring and autumn. Mammals have representation too, in the form of red deer and mountain hare, while the heather and associated grasslands host the Scotch argus butterfly.
Yet as moorland has become blighted by competing interests, burning has become the management tool of choice
on many estates. This encourages the growth of young, fresh heather for both red grouse and livestock, while leaving areas of mature heather for nesting. The practice is particularly obvious in the southern uplands of Scotland, the Pennines and the North York Moors, where a scarring patchwork of differentaged stands of heather is a feature of many hillsides.
Proponents of what the Scots call ‘muirburn’ would argue that, without burning and grazing, the habitat would eventually revert to woodland. But the contribution of moorlands to the locking-up of carbon, the risk of releasing this carbon through burning, and the conservation of iconic species is now much better understood. So rather than a continued obsession over the size of grouse bags, surely the prime focus of discussions over the future of this much loved, but contentious, habitat should be its eminent suitability for large-scale rewilding projects.
Turn to page 50 for the latest on the debate surrounding moorland management and mountain hares.
Moorland has a long history of human intervention. Only the mountain peaks and rock faces are truly wild.