Heathland Management

What is heathland?

Lowland heathland is characterised by the presence of plants such as heather, dwarf gorses, and cross-leaved heath and is generally found below 300 metres in altitude. Areas of good quality heathland should consist of an ericaceous layer of varying heights and structures, some areas of scattered trees and scrub, areas of bare ground, gorse, wet heaths, bogs and open water. The presence and numbers of characteristic birds, reptiles, invertebrates, vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens are important indicators of habitat quality.

Why manage heathland?

Lowland heathland is a priority for nature conservation because it is a rare and threatened habitat. In England only one sixth of the heathland present in 1800 now remains. The UK has some 58,000 ha of lowland heathland of which the largest proportion (55% ) is found in England. The most significant areas for lowland heathland include the counties of Hampshire, Cornwall, Dorset, Surrey, Devon, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Pembrokeshire, West Glamorgan and west Gwynedd. The UK has an important proportion (about 20%) of the international total of this habitat. Reference : UK Biodiversity Action Plan

Threats to heathland include:

• Encroachment by scrub, trees, bracken and grass
• Lack of resources to fund management
• Excessive recreational pressures
• Fragmentation and habitat loss caused by roads and housing development
• Conversion to forestry plantations
• Public opposition to management, especially tree and scrub removal and fencing for conservation grazing
• Water abstraction from aquifers affecting wet heaths and mires
• Uncontrolled fire
• Fly tipping and other forms of misuse/abuse

Our services include:

Scrub control - removing young trees and controlling the growth of vegetation such as, gorse, broom and bracken to prevent the heathland being lost to developing poor quality woodland.

Turf stripping - litter or turf stripping can be very effective in restoring heather in areas which have been taken over by bracken or the sometimes the aggressive grasses, wavy hair-grass and purple moor-grass. The bare ground initially left by these operations can be very valuable for heathland invertebrates such as solitary bees and wasps.

Heather cutting - is carried out in autumn after the heather has seeded and can be used as an alternative to burning or grazing. The size of the area to be cut will determine the most effective cutting methods. Although small areas can be cut by hand or by tractor mounted cutting equipment, larger areas are best cut using specialist cutting and collecting machinery. The collected cuttings which contain viable heather seeds can then be used for other heathland restoration projects.

Heather spreading – where possible utilising heather cuttings containing viable heather seeds collected from site or to utilise cuttings removed from nearby heathland to aid heathland restoration.

BlueSky Environmental Solutions work in partnership with a number of specialist turf-stripping and heather cutting contractors and, where possible, we will try to co-ordinate your management requirements with other landowners within your region. This enables us to maximise efficiency, reduce transportation costs and pass on these savings directly to you. Please contact us to arrange a site visit or discuss your requirements.