Habitat Wildflower Guide Upland heathland Habitat description Upland heathland is a wild place often characterised by moody purple heather moors. It occurs between 250- 750 m above sea level in the England. Examples include Dartmoor and Exmoor in South West England, the North Pennines in northern England and most of the upland regions of Scotland. Wetter parts of this habitat include peat bogs, which have a variety of specialist that don’t grow on drier heaths. Lichens and mosses are important plants of upland heathland habitat. Bird species that are characteristic of this habitat include Golden Plover and Red Grouse. The many flowers attract invertebrates including butterflies such as the Green Hairstreak. Bumblebees are also particularly attracted by the nectar that is produced by heather plants. Heathland must be managed to prevent trees from establishing and the area becoming woodland. Burning is carried out on a rotational basis of between 10 and 25 years. Grazing with cattle or sheep is also used to keep vegetation at a low level. Management plans have to be carried out carefully; damage can be caused to upland heathland habitat by overgrazing, burning of the heaths too frequently, and clearing to make space for conifer plantations. Folklore Upland Heathland The leaves of Bogbean are dried Key locations.. for medicinal use, and an infusion Northumberland has approximately 40,000 hectares of these leaves can be used to treat of upland heathland.The Northumberland National Park weight loss, weakness, and can and the North Pennines contain a large amount of this heathland. aid digestion. Some of the moors are managed for Red Grouse,the shooting of The fruits of Crowberry are which brings money into the local economy,which funds conservation edible but aren’t particularly tasty. of these habitats. They are used by Inuits in their One to look out for.. Juniper (Juniperus communis) cooking but are often cooked A spiky or tree with blue-black berries. with other berries to add to the flavour. Crowberries can be dried or frozen to be stored then eaten over the winter.

www.wildaboutplants.org.uk Other species to look out for...

Bog Myrtle Marsh Violet gale Viola palustris Bog Myrtle is a This species of deciduous shrub that can Violet grows in grow up to two metres acid bogs. The tall. It has red-brown twigs flowers are pale and grey-green leaves, lilac with dark purple which have a pleasant veins. The rounded leaves are scent. This species has two types of catkins (usually on on long creeping runners which help the different plants); the male catkins are red-brown with red spread through this habitat. stamens whilst the female catkins are green and more Photograph: Miika Silfverberg rounded with red styles. Photograph: Bastiaan Brak Heath Rush Juncus squarrosus Bogbean Heath Rush can survive Menyanthes trifoliata in areas that are heavily The star-shaped white flowers, grazed by growing in which are produced between a low horizontal form. April and July, are particularly The fruit capsules of this conspicuous because they have species of rush are notably white hairs. The seeds are dispersed large for its size. by water and have a hard seed Photograph: Wesley Vinck coat which means they can remain floating for several months. The Crowberry ‘bean’ part of the name comes from the leaves, which Empetrum nigrum look like the leaves of a bean plant. Crowberry looks similar to Photograph: Heidi De Dobbelaere Heathers and Heaths but is in fact in a different family. It is mainly Round-leaved Sundew found in Wales, northern England Drosera rotundifolia and Scotland. The stems have Sundews have glandular hairs a reddish colour and the fruits on their leaves that secrete a produced are black-coloured sticky substance, which traps berries. insects. The plant then digests Photograph: Bastiaan Brak the trapped insects to obtain its nitrogen. Common Butterwort Photograph: Beth Newman Pinguicula vulgaris Butterworts are insect- Cottongrass catching plants. They have sticky leaves to trap insects, Cottongrass is a sedge (a which they then digest to grass-like plant with triangular obtain nitrogen compounds. stems). The flowerheads are very The purple flowers of recognisable as they are white and Common Butterwort are held fluffy. At the end of a day of hard high on the stems to prevent walking across upland heathland pollinating insects from being you can feel that they help you on trapped on the leaves. your way as they wave gently in the wind. Photograph: Ron Hanko Photograph: Miika Silfverberg www.wildaboutplants.org.uk tel: +44(0)1722 342730 email: [email protected]