Restore heathland to preserve wildlife, campaigners urge

There are concerns over the future of 30,000 hectares – about 74,000 acres – of publicly owned woodland planted on heaths, in the face of Government plans to sell off part of the public forest estate to commercial timber companies.

According to the RSPB, England has lost five-sixths of the heathland it had in 1800 and just 0.2 per cent of the country’s land is covered in heath, which supports wildlife ranging from nightjars and Dartford warblers to tiger beetles, sand lizards and rare butterflies.

The previous Government committed itself to restoring some of the heathland which had been planted on with conifers, while planting new woodland elsewhere.

But with the new Government consulting on plans to offload up to 100 per cent of England’s 258,000-hectare public forest estate, currently managed by the Forestry Commission, concerns have been raised over the fate of the damaged heaths.

The Government proposals include a £250m sale of leaseholds for commercially valuable forests to timber companies, measures to allow communities, charities and even local authorities to buy or lease woods, and plans to transfer well-known “heritage” woods such as the New Forest into the hands of charities.

The RSPB said that the Forestry Commission could have been more ambitious than it has been when it comes to restoring heathland, but warned that breaking it up under the sale plans into smaller parts could make matters worse unless robust conditions were put on the new owners.

RSPB conservation director Mark Avery said: “Whoever owns our forests, it is vital that areas of lowland heathland which are planted with conifers are restored to benefit species like sand lizards, Dartford warblers, nightjars and natterjack toads.”

Dr Tony Whitbread, chief executive of Sussex Wildlife Trust, said he was concerned about sites such as Friston Forest, near Eastbourne, and Tilgate Forest, near Crawley, where the trust was working with the Forestry Commission to maintain and improve heath habitat within conifer forests.

At Tilgate, he said, the trust was helping to enhance and expand the heathland that remains within the conifer plantation, providing habitat for species ranging from adders to solitary bees.

A spokesman for the Environment Department (DEFRA)) said: “We will set out our ambitions for landscape-scale habitat restoration...following the consultation on the public forest estate.”