WE are very fortunate here in the Wyre Forest area to have some wonderful areas of lowland heathland.

This habitat was once described by English Nature as the European equivalent of tropical rainforest, reflecting the human pressures that over the last few decades have seen this unique reservoir of biodiversity reduced to a tiny fraction of what it was, even 50 years ago.

Development and agriculture laid waste to what was once huge tracts of heathland, leaving just a few scattered fragments behind, and unfortunately heathland is a habitat type that requires constant management if it is to persist. Heath can only exist on sandy soils and would have naturally been created and maintained by large wild herbivores, that would have gradually widened and maintained clearings in the wild woods of Britain, allowing heathland communities to exist. Humans soon cleared the woods of these large wild animals and replaced then with domesticated animals and for thousands of years these domestic animals grazed the heaths.

Farmers who grazed the heath found they could only have very few animals on what were very large areas of land. In the 20th century agriculture became scientific and methods were found whereby the productivity of the land could be increased and so more animals could be grazed.

Unfortunately, this was at the expense of the fragile heathland plants and animals who specialised in growing and living in unproductive soils.

By the latter part of the century, most heath that could be farmed was farmed unless it was used as good flat land to build houses and all that remained were areas that were either used for other things, like land owned by the Ministry of Defence or common land.

These had their grazing removed and these heaths lost the vital ingredient that allowed them to exist and they began to slowly die as scrub and non-typical heathland plants engulf the rare heathland species.

This has been the fate of the heaths around Wyre Forest but fortunately Rifle Range and Devil’s Spittleful, Burlish Top, Vicarage Farm and Hartlebury Common have managed to survive.

In recent years, conservationists have recognised the importance to the world’s biodiversity and those employed by the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, the county council and Wyre Forest District Council have endeavoured, with the aid of organisations like the English Nature, now Natural England, and the efforts of volunteers to both halt the decline of the heaths and to revert the process of decay.

When I started work on the heath, the work was all done by hand. With bow saw lopper and mattock and the help of schoolchildren and volunteers, I used to spend day after day hacking down the heath.

If you feel like doing some light work helping to conserve the heath, then you are most welcome to come along to help, so bring a pair of gloves and a lunch to roast over the fire and meet the rangers at 10am next Saturday, January 17, at Blackstone Picnic Site.