Heathland; the land of the poor, acidic soil.

Photo taken by my friend and photographer, Zakary Chapman - all rights reserved

A heathland is where special plants grow, plants that you wouldn't find anywhere else. This includes belle heather, dwarf gorse/western gorse and in the more civilized areas, bracken. However, since bracken is invasive, it can be found in pretty much any U.K. habitat. Heathland has to be kept under close control otherwise natural succession will take over the heathland, turning it into scrub and (after time) woodland.

Insects and animals of the heathland.

A few insects and animals that live in the heathland include

• Sand lizards (look on path edges and on stumps that catch the sun in spring)

• Smooth snakes (found almost always on lowland heath in Dorset and Hampshire and pretty much nowhere else)

• Nightjar (at around about duskish in May or August, listen for "churring," "quips," and the distinctive wing clap. Seen mainly in the south of England and the north of Scotland)

• The beewolf (the adults catch honeybees and feed them to their lave, but eat nectar and pollen themselves)

• Heath tiger beetle (the fastest bug of the bunch, its speed comes in useful when chasing pray over the surface)

• Mottled bee fly (this rare little creature is thought to feed upon the heath sand wasp, who feeds on moth caterpillars)

Identifying heather

There are three main types of heather native to the U.K.; each looking different from the last .

Belle heather

Belle heather is (as the name suggests) rather bell shaped. The leaves of belle heather are quite coniferous looking and when compared to the leaves of of the so-called 'ordinary heather,' the stem looks sparse. Belle heather is a sign of dry heathland.

Crossed leaved heather

Crossed leaved heather has the same sort-of shape flowers as belle heather except the difference between the flowers is that the colour of the flowers changes throughout the flower. It starts off dark and gradually grows lighter nearer the entrance to the flower. However, unlike the belle heather, cross leaved heather has completely different leaves, which grow the whole way round the stem giving it a rather elegant look. Crossed leaved heather is a sign of a wet heathland.

"Common" heather

The "common" heather has more open flowers than the other two and its leaves are different again; they are very bunched up and they look like they will blossom into flowers, but alas they never do and will, when their time comes, die like this.

Photo my own, all rights reserved