Heathland
Much of the Heathland was reclaimed from pine woodland in the 1980’s and more was carried out in the late 1990’s. The heathland restoration work has so far been very successful, and is an ongoing process. Over the next five years further areas of pine tree will be removed to restore the heathland habitat.
The heathland supports a varied and often exclusive range of plants and animals. Without regular maintenance to remove seedling pine, birch and other scrub, it would gradually revert to woodland and the species dependent on this habitat would be lost.
The dry heath is dominated by Ling, Bell heather and Gorse. There are three species of gorse; two are Summer flowering – Western Gorse and Dwarf Gorse, the third is Common Gorse which flowers in Winter and Spring. All three together with the more mature stands of heather, provide feeding and nesting sites for birds such as Nightjar, Dartford Warbler and Stonechat as well as habitat for numerous other invertebrates. In damper areas a third species of heather – the Cross Leaved Heather is predominant. Notably of the British lizards and snakes, all six are present on the Heathland at Holton Lee.
