Northumberland National Park and The Linhope Estate will restore large tracts of the Cheviot Hills to upland heath
An exciting new conservation project is about to get underway in Northumberland National Park. The 14,000 acre Linhope Estate, which includes a substantial part of the Cheviot Hills and much of the Breamish Valley, is to be the focus of efforts to recreate a large area of moorland wildlife habitat known as ‘upland heath’.
The landscape-scale restoration, which will bring the summer purple blaze and scent of honey to the wide horizons of the Cheviots, begins fittingly during International Year of Biodiversity.
This habitat is of international importance for the unique mix of plant species it comprises and the wildlife, particularly birds, which it can support. Plant species include heather (ling), bilberry, bell heather, cross-leaved heath, crowberry, cranberry, cotton grasses and various mosses. These plants and the life they support provide an ideal home for black grouse, red grouse, curlew, golden plover, raven, ring ouzel, merlin, hen harrier, emperor moth and fox moth.
Heather moorland is also important for maintaining the peat soils of the uplands, which are an important carbon store for the country.
Over the past few decades, the area of moorland habitats has decreased throughout the UK, including Northumberland National Park, mainly due to the intensification of agriculture. Increased sheep numbers encouraged by agricultural subsidies, and the creation of conifer plantations.
Conservation organisations and Government would like to prevent further losses of moorland habitats and the wildlife they support and have set targets to conserve the remaining areas and, where possible, recreate habitat in suitable areas where it used to occur.
Today, agri-environment schemes such as Higher Level Stewardship, funded by Natural England, support this type of conservation work. Lord James Percy, who owns Linhope Estate and Northumberland National Park Authority staff have taken the opportunity to implement their shared aims to conserve and enhance the existing moorland habitats on Linhope Estate and attempt to recreate former heathland areas. The partnership has secured funding from Natural England to undertake this work.
First, to improve the condition of the existing moorland habitats the number of sheep and the length of time they graze the sensitive areas has been reduced to prevent damage by overgrazing. Over the next few years, on some areas of the estate where heath plants, such as heather, are no longer present and have been replaced by grassland with a lower wildlife value, restoration work is going to take place. The techniques that will be used have been pioneered over the last few years in other upland areas, particularly the Peak District, by Geoff Eyre, the recognised leading expert in heath recreation. This is the first large-scale heath recreation project to take place in Northumberland.
Restoration work is beginning this month with grassland trial plot areas being prepared for seeding. This will involve spraying off small areas of grass to enable heather seeds to germinate and heather seedlings to establish. Visitors to the area may notice a patchwork of dead grass on the hillside for a few weeks.
Later in the summer, on suitable areas where there is not competition from vigorous grass, heather seed mixed with water (hydro-seed) will be applied, in some less accessible places, this will be done by helicopter. Carpets of new heather plants will not been seen overnight as the seeds often take 2 years before they germinate and the seedlings are extremely small to start with, but in time the summer blaze will be an impressive sight.
Mary Gough, Farming Officer for Northumberland National Park Authority working on the project, said: “ We are delighted to be working in partnership with Linhope Estate and their farm tenants to conserve and recreate habitats that are such an important component of the National Park’s beautiful landscape and wildlife value. This is a long term project and results will not be seen over night as it can take several years for heath plants such as heather to re-establish. We will continue to work closely with the estate to monitor progress. We hope to be able to apply what we learn from the project on The Linhope Estate to other areas in Northumberland National Park to make it an even better place for wildlife and people. We are very grateful to Natural England for funding the work.”
Lord James Percy said: “Visitors to the National Park will now be seeing the start of the implementation of a landscape scale conservation project partnered by the National Park, Natural England, the Linhope Estate and the farm tenants. The goal is to restore areas of moorland lost to the intensification of agriculture in the 20th century. Increasingly farmers and landowners will need to sustain the socio-economic fabric of remote areas through organising their business to manage the uplands in an environmental way, rather than trying to maintain incomes based on heavy stocking rates and reduced labour. This project will deliver economic stability for at least 10 years, as well as conservation and landscape benefits for wildlife and visitors to the area.”
This is the second large-scale restoration that Northumberland National Park Authority has promoted to ensure a distinctive, living-working landscape throughout its 405 square miles. The first was a restoration of the Border Mires – the largest peat bogs of their kind in Europe, in conjunction with the Forestry Commission.
