On a trip to the moors you might expect to see wading birds such as curlew, lapwing, oystercatcher, red and green shank, and golden plover, some of which are dramatically declining in number but have found breeding refuges on moorland, as well merlin, short-eared owls, hen harrier, red grouse, ring ouzel, meadow pipits, field vole, hare and adder, as well as a range of moths, pollinators and other insect life.  On some moorland edges black grouse can still be found too.  

You will also, of course, find heather (Calluna vulgaris) which flowers spectacularly in late summer, bell heather (Erica cinerea), cross-leaved heath (Erica tetralix), bilberry, cottongrass (hare’s tail and common) and other grasses such as wavy hair grass, flushes of Sphagnum moss, sundew, cranberries and possibly cloudberry, crowberry and juniper.   The livestock which graze our moors are also a common sight and these include upland sheep and cattle breeds as well as in some places ponies, such as on Exmoor and Dartmoor.

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Globally, heather moorland is rare.  It is virtually confined to Britain and Ireland, where in the main it is maintained through cutting, grazing and/or managed burning.  In some places such as the far North west of Scotland, moorland is the natural state, but in most areas of Great Britain it would become scrub and woodland without management.  As such the Heather Trust is interested in the activities that will enable moorlands to continue to hold their unique place in a mixed mosaic of land uses and types throughout the country, and promotes that those activities should be undertaken in a way that is environmentally sustainable.