Heather Cutting in Practice

Cutting heather with a mini-tractor and flail

As the heather management season is now upon us, conditions have been perfect in many parts of the UK for burning. Near the Heather Trust's offices in Dumfries and Galloway, conditions have been wet for several weeks, and despite a few drying days at the start of March, the hills are decidedly soggy. When the conditions are right, burning is a crucial asset to have in the moorland management toolbox, but if the last few years are anything to go by in Western Scotland, things have been getting wetter and less conducive to fires.

Part of the answer is to cut heather rather than burn it, and it was very satisfying to visit work undertaken by Heather Trust members Lawrence and Penny McNaught this afternoon on an area of heather ground near Dumfries. Even if the weather had been perfect, the hill is surrounded on three sides by commercial forestry, and there would be legitimate concerns about fires in this kind of ground considering that much of the heather is long, rank and could burn extremely vigorously in the wrong conditions.

The Heather Trust has been focussing on heather cutting for the past four years, and we produced a Briefing on the key considerations relating to mechanical management. Certain types of cutting were particularly suited to this ground, and we were happy to provide advice and support in the autumn when plans were being made. Contractors arrived yesterday and made impressive progress putting cuts onto the hill with a small tractor and a flail mulcher. The small tractor was crucial to gain access through wet fields without causing too much damage, and the speed with which the flail cut through the heather made up for the narrow width of each pass.

This work is being driven by a desire to improve the sporting assets of the hill, which once was renowned for its grouse. Nowadays there are not enough to support even a symbolic harvest, so it is hoped that this investment and effort will be repaid in a brace or two of walked up grouse on the Glorious Twelfth. The work should also benefit a small but strategically significant population of black grouse and could also be of use to ring ousels which have declined dramatically in Galloway over the past fifty years.

The Heather Trust is always keen to provide advice and support to projects both great and small, and we believe that integrated, balanced management can tick multiple boxes, from sport and conservation to agriculture and tourism. We wish the McNaughts well with their project, and we look forward to catching up with them again soon!