Forming a vast carpet of purple and pink, the heathers of the South Downs National Park shimmer under a blue late summer sky. Late August and early September is when the magic of the heathland really unfolds, with the heather blossoming into a cascade of colour.
It’s a sight that helped to spark the Heathlands Reunited project in 2016, uniting 11 organisations led by the South Downs National Park Authority to try to recreate, reconnect and restore the heathland that’s left there. Now concluded, the five-year project has helped the habitat to bounce back from the brink.
This is a landscape that bears the mark of many generations: heathlands only exist today because of human intervention over thousands of years. Nonetheless, some rare and endangered species call it home, even though heathland now covers just 1% of the national park. These are mostly separated into small ‘islands’, where isolated plants and animals are far more vulnerable to local extinction.
Efforts are, tentatively, bearing fruit. Heathlands Reunited has already “conserved and enhanced” 23,825 hectares – or 18,000 football pitches – of lowland heath. An independent scientific assessment revealed the initiative had been ‘significant’ in restoring the ecological condition of the habitat.
