Heathland projects

 

The Forestry Commission launched its Forest and Heathland Project in 1992 with the aim of re-creating some 300 hectares of heathland within ten years. Since then, Natural England set up Tomorrow’s Heathland Heritage to continue with the restoration work, and a sub-group for Dorset’s Egdon Heath (Hardy’s Egdon Heath Project*) was developed in 2000.

Over 3,000 years ago during the Bronze Age many hectares of Dorset’s woodlands were cleared to make way for farming. Areas, such as Egdon Heath, were covered with inflammable vegetation and the light soils were easily exposed and cultivated. Unfortunately the limited fertility of the soil was quickly depleted and new areas were cleared to make way for more farming land. Before long, a huge expanse of impoverished soil, similar to the size of the New Forest, had been created.

During the 20th Century radical changes began to occur and serious effects to the heathland areas became noticeable. Mechanisation and artificial fertilisers enabled landowners to clear much larger areas of land for agriculture, while foresters followed Government policy to produce a strategic reserve of timber, and considerable areas of heathland were also being used to plant conifers. By the middle of the 20th Century many people were beginning to recognise the value of the remaining areas of heathland, but its loss continued more rapidly than before, this time with the added demand of land for houses.

By the end of the 20th Century only a tiny fraction of Egdon Heath remained and this area was recognised as being of international importance for conservation and was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), candidate Special Area for Conservation (cSAC) and, Special Protection Area (SPA). It was at this point that the Forest and Heathland Project was launched. Simultaneously, several hundreds of hectares of lowland mire across Dorset were already being managed for conservation by the Forestry Commission. 

By the beginning of 2000 the Forestry Commission had also become a major partner in the Hardy’s Egdon Heath Project, the local sub-group of English Nature’s Tomorrow’s Heathland Heritage project which is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Over five years the Forestry Commission will undertake nearly £0.5 million of work to re-create heathland throughout south and east Dorset. In addition, the Forestry Commission has developed Forest Design Plans which will return nearly 30% or 1,800 hectares of the publicly owned estate in Dorset to heathland by 2020.

Looking to the future the challenge for the Forestry Commission will be to maintain these important heathlands, and the wildlife they support. Left unmanaged, these areas would quickly revert to scrub, and their special value for wildlife would be lost. While historically the management of the heathlands would have been a haphazard affair, and one which was only sustainable due to the vast areas involved, today management is difficult due to the small patches they cover, and the wide areas they are scattered across.

One of the key tools for the sustained management of the heathlands will be grazing by cattle and ponies. This presents interesting challenges as generally today’s stockmen have systems where large numbers of animals are kept in relatively small fields. Successful heathland grazing requires a small number of ponies and cattle to browse across large areas. Grazing across extensive areas of land is not a tradition in Dorset and therefore owners of ponies and cattle could need convincing of the benefits of grazing their stock over such areas rather than an enclosed field. One obvious problem is the distance stock could cover, and rounding them up could prove difficult for owners, especially those that do not ride. In addition to grazing there will be a continued need for the heathland managers to undertake traditional tasks such as clearing scrub, harvesting bracken and the burning of heather and grass.

Above all, re-creating these heathlands will ensure that the areas will encourage a huge growth in biodiversity, offering homes to rare ground nesting birds such as lapwing and curlew, along with birds who nest in gorse, for example, the Dartford warbler. Also, the mixed landscape of towering trees framing beautiful open areas of heath enhances the area dramatically and will offer visitors a much bigger and brighter visual experience when walking, riding or cycling through the forest.

*Project named after Thomas Hardy’s novels about Egdon Heath.