Advisory Visit to Corehead

Black grouse are a key species at Corehead

The Heather Trust was recently invited to visit Corehead Farm, one of the Borders Forest Trust's (BFT) properties North of Moffat. The farm includes the spectacular Devil’s Beeftub, an iconic feature of the Southern Uplands which lies at the top of Annandale where the hills run together to form a deep and extremely steep sided hollow.

The Borders Forest Trust bought Corehead in 2009 and began to plant up large areas of the site in a bid to recreate the historic Ettrick Forest which once lay right across the Southern Uplands. Using native tree species, a huge amount of planting has taken place during the intervening years and a major part of the process has involved stock-proof exclosures to protect the young trees.

Relieved from grazing, some interesting things have been happening to the heather where it still survives after centuries of sheep, and we were called in to consult on progress with the project so far, as well as provide some advice for the future of the heather. The site also provides a home to a small population of black grouse, and while the project aims to improve biodiversity across the board, these birds provide a useful focus for habitat work.

After several years without any grazing, some parts of Corehead are looking excellent and an area of steep ground we visited could soon provide some excellent habitat for ring ouzels, which already breed in the area. Encroaching bracken will need to be controlled, and the nature of the ground is such that helicopter spraying may be the only workable solution.

Elsewhere, there are potentially serious problems with under-grazing within the exclosures, and much of the heather which has recovered as a result of excluding livestock now risks being smothered by molinia grass and star moss, both of which can dominate vegetation. In an ideal world, these plants could be selectively grazed and controlled by native hill breed cattle, but the trees must get precedent and any attempt to control the grasses would surely come at the expense of the new trees.

Corehead is a fascinating project, and while the farm will never be dominated by heather, low heather coverage is sure to be a key issue in the project’s future. During our walk, we discovered a juvenile black grouse feather which suggests that there has been successful breeding in 2014, and while the local population of birds has been badly suppressed by habitat fragmentation, commercial woodland and overgrazing, there is some sign of promise in the new plantations. 

With some judicious predator control and ongoing habitat management, this area of the Borders could support a healthier population of birds, and the potential for heather recovery gives the hill a sunny outlook, despite being steeped in thick cloud on the day of our visit.