Heather (‘ling’)
was harvested, as Salthouse records show, though it is not clear
for what purpose. In other parts of Britain it has been used for
thatching. Bracken was certainly used as bedding material and,
last but not least, the heath was a good source of protein in the
form of rabbits. From Norman times, rabbits had been ‘farmed’ on
sandy areas, and the name ‘warren’ is associated with
such deliberate management. Immediately to the south of Salthouse
Heath, Faden’s map of 1797 shows an area called Kelling Warren.
This relatively intense use of heathland is likely to have begun to
wane in the nineteenth century, and declined to virtually nothing by
the middle of the twentieth. As traditional activities declined, invasion
by bushes and trees accelerated, and the open grazing land was gradually
encroached by woodland. Where grazing for livestock was still required,
it is likely that fire was used regularly in a controlled way to encourage
plants palatable to cattle sheep and horses. This appears to have been
the case at Salthouse, where controlled burning and, more recently,
uncontrolled and damaging summer fires, have kept the heath open in
places.
Latterly, with the rise in interest in habitat conservation, it has
been clear that heathlands are landscape under threat. Over the last
200 years Norfolk’s heathland area has dwindled by perhaps as
much as 90%, notwithstanding the huge areas that had been ploughed
up before 1800. The special wildlife of heaths, deprived of its habitat,
has declined in proportion, so that many heathland plants and animals
are now rare. What is more, until recently, the heaths that did survive
were becoming unsuitable for heathland specialist species due to the
encroachment of trees.
|
|
Salthouse has a good share of heath-specialist wildlife:
plants like dodder, a parasite that lives off heather; the western
gorse, the small gorse that flowers in August and September, and normally
grows in western Britain; heath violets and of course the two heathers:
Erica cinerea, the bell heather, and the true heather Calluna vulgaris
that flowers a bit later with the western gorse. The sandy soils are
good for burrowing insects and one of them, the Minotaur beetle, leaves
a conspicuous hole about 10mm across, down which he rolls rabbit droppings
in which to lay his eggs; it is a British dung beetle.
Reptiles also love the dry soils that warm quickly in the sun. Common
lizards, slow worms (‘legless’ lizards), and adders are
all at home on the heath, if elusive to see. Easier to see (and hear)
are the heath birds. Nightjars thrive and this, combined with the chance
to hear nightingales in the blackthorn thickets and ‘roding’ woodcock,
make the Heath a popular place for birdwatchers. The stonechat is now
breeding again, after an absence of some years, adding to the Norfolk
population that is barely a dozen pairs in a good year. Of great interest
has been the return, after a 50-year-absence, of woodlarks. These fairly
drab looking birds have a beautiful song, which can now be heard once
more over the heath from February onwards. This rare bird’s population
is expanding, largely in response to the conservation management that
is now a high priority on most surviving heathland.
Now that Salthouse Heath is benefitting from conservation management,
under the auspices of the Trustees and funded by English Nature’s ‘Tomorrow’s
Heathland Heritage’ lottery grant, wildlife on the heath has
a securer future and residents and visitors alike can enjoy the open
views over beautiful landscape, full of interest and cultural history.
Steve Harris 2003
back to the beginning of
Steve's article
Home
|
