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Table of Contents
Introduction
Introduction
Heathland is a type of scrubland with sandy soils that are impoverished for nutrients.
Heaths are home to some very unique and rare species, but are themselves under great threat from farming and urban expansion.
Loss of Heathland
Loss of Heathland
Over 80% of the UK heathland has been lost since 1830, due to agriculture, forestry, industry, housing and neglect.
Types of Heathland
Types of Heathland
"Heathlands can be classified by the amount of water in the soil. Different amounts of water lead to different qualities in the soil which in turn support different plants." - Heathland Conservation Society: Biodiversity
Dry Heaths
Dry Heaths
"Dry heaths tend to be dominated by ling and bell heather. Nutrients from decomposed leaf litter are quickly washed through the sandy soils making the land inhospitable to many other plants. Dry, sandy areas are home to sand wasps and sand lizards." - Heathland Conservation Society: Biodiversity
Wet Heaths
Wet Heaths
"Wet heaths have waterlogged soils for much of the year. The vegetation is not able to rot because of a lack of oxygen. This leads to a build up of peat and very low available nutrients. Plants such as cross leafed heather and insectivorous plants are able to cope with these difficult conditions. The bog bush cricket and raft spider live in these wet areas." - Heathland Conservation Society: Biodiversity
Threats to Heaths
Threats to Heaths
In no particular order, the following are some of the threats facing heaths today.
Invasive Species
Invasive Species
Rhododendron
Habitat Fragmentation
Habitat Fragmentation
Fire & Wildfires
Fire & Wildfires
Heathland Species
Heathland Species
Amphibians
Amphibians
Toads
Toads
"Natterjack toads are smaller than common toads with shorter legs, and have a distinctive yellow stripe along their back. They require warm, shallow pools in which to lay their strings of eggs and sandy banks in which to burrow over winter. They hunt prey on short turf or bare ground." - Heathland Conservation Society: Reptiles
Birds
Birds
Bugs
Bugs
Bees
Bees
The Bilberry Bumble Bee is a rare and declining species in the UK, reliant on heathland.
Butterflies
Butterflies
Species including the Small Heath Butterfly
Mammals
Mammals
Rabbits
Rabbits
Reptiles
Reptiles
Lizards
Lizards
Snakes
Snakes
Slow Worms
Slow Worms
"Slow worms are lizards, although they have lost their limbs completely and are often mistaken for snakes. Slow worms typically grow to between 40 and 50 cm (16 and 20 in), with the females slightly larger than the males.
They hibernate from October to February/March, both communally and solitarily, and sometimes share hibernating sites with other reptiles." - Heathland Conservation Society: Reptiles
Plants
Plants
Bilberry
Bilberry
Gorse
Gorse
Heather
Heather
"Three species of heather are found on most of Hampshire’s/Surrey's heathlands. Although widespread, they grow in specific conditions and can be easily differentiated. These plants are able to flourish on the nutrient-poor, acidic heathland soils where grasses are less able to cope. Many invertebrates feed on the heathers and rely on the structure that they provide." - Heathland Conservation Society: Heathers
Mosses
Mosses
"Mosses and lichens are an important component of a heathland. Different species thrive in different conditions. In wet areas Sphagnum Moss (otherwise known as Bog-moss) can create a thick mat on which other plants grow, and In drier areas pale green ‘cup lichens’ grow in patches between heather plants." - Heathland Conservation Society: Other Plants
Lichen
Lichen
"Heathlands and moorlands can support rich and varied lichen assemblages, some very visually attractive. This diversity, however, is highly dependant on combinations of grazing, burning and disturbance at differing intensities interacting with the natural characteristics of the soils. In many areas, particularly in the lowlands, however, these lichen assemblages are declining and under threat." - British Lichen Society: Heathland Management
How to Support Heaths
How to Support Heaths
"Being a manmade habitat created by the removal of vegetation, heathland needs careful management to survive. If it is neglected, the surrounding vegetation will soon spread and take over the open landscape. Management for conservation purposes aims to let the entire heathland ecosystem thrive as a whole, promoting diversity and taking into account the rare wildlife which characterise the habitat." - Sussex Wildlife Trust: Heathland Management
Conservation Grazing
Conservation Grazing
"Although lichens are damaged by intensive and closely confined grazing, extensive grazing is a very important factor in promoting lichen richness in many heaths. In many lowland heaths abandonment of grazing has lead to greatly impoverished heaths for lichens. Varying intensities of grazing have different impacts and variations in grazing pressure across sites can promote different assemblages. Very light gazing has limited impact, but moderately levels of grazing that differentially graze down grasses and maintain open heather canopies can increase and prolong lichen diversity on lower productivity soils. Typically such moderate grazing does not prevent the eventual development of tall shaded lichen poor stands of mature or senescent heaths so needs to be combined with periodic controlled burning to rejuvenate the more open and lichen rich younger stages of the heaths." - British Lichen Society: Heathland Management
Appropriate Grazers
Appropriate Grazers
"Effective grazing needs to be extensive to promote lichen diversity, but also needs to have significant impacts on the vegetation so should not be too light. All grazing animals can have positive impacts if managed carefully. Cattle and Ponies are particularly useful in selectively grazing down coarse grasses and leaving heather but sheep and deer can also promote lichen diversity if not in too high numbers. Rabbits are especially good at promoting impressive bushy growths of reindeer moss but without some additional ground disturbance, diversity of smaller lichens can be low in rabbit warrens." - British Lichen Society: Heathland Management
Native horse or pony breeds should be used for conservation grazing on heaths, because some of these have adapted to graze on plants like gorse, and they are known to trample or even eat aggressive weeds like bracken.
Gorse has evolved to burn for the species own benefit.
Prescribed Fire
Prescribed Fire
"Fire is an integral part of heathland and moorland ecology, the dominant vascular plants are burning tolerant, adapted to survive burning, and some, such as Gorse, are strongly fire promoting and are actively evolved to burn to their ecological advantage. As such, heaths are likely burn, whatever the managers intention, and policies of fire suppression have the potential to end in hot uncontrolled wildfires. As such burning vegetation in a controlled manner for predictable results has long been a rational action in the management of heath vegetation, especially as the early stages of recovery from controlled burns produces good grazing for stock and game." - British Lichen Society: Heathland Management
Resources
Resources
Europe
Europe
UK
UK
Sheffield Local Biodiversity Action Partnership: Heathland Habitat Action Plan (PDF)
British Lichen Society: Heathland Management "Heathlands and moorlands can support rich and varied lichen assemblages, some very visually attractive. This diversity, however, is highly dependant on combinations of grazing, burning and disturbance at differing intensities interacting with the natural characteristics of the soils. In many areas, particularly in the lowlands, however, these lichen assemblages are declining and under threat."
Organizations
Organizations
Europe
Europe
UK
UK
Canal & River Trust "We're the UK's largest canal charity, looking after 2,000 miles of canals and rivers across England and Wales"
Heathland Conservation Society "The aim of the Heathland Conservation Society, which is a voluntary organisation, is to Conserve and Protect our environment and in particular the fragile Heathland.
With over 80% of the UK heathland being lost since 1830, due to agriculture, forestry, industry, housing and neglect it is very important that we protect this rare and valuable environment. Now, all that remains are small pockets of heathland scattered across the south."
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