Firing up the heather moorland

Volunteers for the Forgotten Landscapes Partnership (FLP) have just finished learning how to manage the heather moorland which is so vitally important to the area’s red grouse population - the southernmost in the UK. The population has been decreasing dramatically over the past 100 years: The most recent survey found that only 67 still inhabit the area.
Over the past decades the area surrounding the Blorenge Mountain, The Blorenge Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), has been subject to far-reaching fires causing great damage to the area’s heather moorland, the most important vegetation for the red grouse population: they nest in the old heather and feed on the new. A healthy composition of the heather is therefore crucial for their survival.
The previous fires have created a heather vegetation that is even-aged in most places and    as a result does not meet the needs of the red grouse. The volunteers are helping to solve this problem: By burning areas of heather under controlled circumstances, they make sure that new heather will grow, creating a mosaic composition of heather in all ages.
A part of the volunteer effort has included work by young air cadets. Before a patch of heather is burnt, a circle - or “fire brake” - is cut around it to make sure the fire does not get out of control. The cut down heather then has to be removed to ensure that the fire brakes keep the flames in check. The cadets have helped with this preliminary process as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
The hope of this heather conservation project is to double the red grouse population and make sure that they will have a nice home for many years to come.