Bringing back the Heather

HART Countryside Service has carried out heathland scrapes on three major sites in the district.

The aim is to return heather and other heathland plants to the sites at Elvetham Heath, Fleet Pond and Hazeley Heath by next summer.

The work is an important stage in the restoration of an open landscape of lowland heathland that was once prevalent over much of north Hampshire.

This involved removing the top layer of soil so as to expose the seed bank. This has left areas of bare ground but the Countryside Service hopes to see a flush of young plants by late spring or early summer.

“Heather seeds can survive for more than 50 years so they can quickly germinate and re-establish themselves once conditions are favourable,” say local ecologists.

Spoil removed from these areas has been used to create banks for wildlife such as lizards, snakes, beetles, wasps, bees and other rare insects.