Member

Let me put it this way: if management fails such that it is not cost beneficial in terms of a third party assessment of outcomes and methods to achieve them then, while everybody twiddles their thumbs and debates it, nature will take the initiative. Vegetation succession takes over. As the noble Earl pointed out, heather gets old and woody, with heather beetle usually being one of the last stages of the process. Meanwhile, bracken and sedges take over on Exmoor. The chief problem is something called Molinia, otherwise known as purple moor grass, which forms quite dense tussocks and matted vegetation. It is palatable to livestock, but only for about two or three weeks in the late spring or early summer, then it becomes unpalatable. Meanwhile, it suppresses everything else that grows with it. That is not better biodiversity—quite the opposite. Over the seasons, accumulations of the dry matter thus resulting may start to occur.