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Heather moorland and
Cairnsmore of Fleet,
Cairnsmore of Fleet NNR,
Galloway
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The Southern
Uplands landscape of high domed hills and plateau is recognised
as a European mountain massif, just like the Scottish Highlands,
the Pyrenees and the Alps.
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Rhinns of Galloway at dawn
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Up on the tops,
the windswept moorlands that blanket the plateau are riddled with
streams and sprinkled with lochs. As snow lies later here than anywhere
else south of the Highlands, the mountain heaths are refuges for
Arctic and alpine species at the southern limit of their range,
like the woolly hair moss that grows amongst lichen-rich blaeberry
heaths.
Dark, peaty
pools are scattered amongst blanket bogs' drier hummocks of springy
heather that sprout tufts of cotton grass. The drops fringing sundew
plants glitter in sunshine and azure hawker dragonflies provide
iridescent flashes. Wider expanses of heather and bog moss cover
deep peat.
Coming down
from the tops, the hill slopes and undulating foothills are cloaked
with green pastures dotted with sheep, swathed in dark green coniferous
plantations or patterned with the distinctive stripes and patches
of managed heather moorland.
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Muir burning to maintain
the habitat for red grouse
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Cattle and sheep
have grazed these hills for over 5,000 years. Iron Age hillfort
communities enclosed their cattle herds in sturdy corrals that provided
some protection from rival tribe's raids. In recent decades, upland
farming has shifted from small cattle farms to larger sheep farms.
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Peregrine
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Some heather
moorland is still 'muir' burned to maintain the habitat for red
grouse. The evocative calls of curlew pierce the air and other waders,
like golden plover, dunlin and redshank, breed amongst the heather.
Rare golden eagles, as well as peregrines, hen harriers, buzzards
and merlins soar through the open skies. Centuries of sheep grazing
has reduced heather cover, allowing bracken and moorgrass to take
over but changes in grazing, particularly the reintroduction of
cattle, would allow diverse plant communities to regenerate.
"For
I'll hasten to the vision,
of a valley fair, Elysian,
And gaze at Scotland's Eden
From the spur of Gala Hill"
Roger Quin, 'The Borderland'
Useful links:
www.snh.org.uk
www.heathertrust.co.uk
www.blackgrouse.info
www.rspb.org.uk/scotland
www.suw21.com
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