Moorland

Heather moorland is rare on a world wide scale - there is probably less heather moorland in the world than tropical rainforest. Around 70% of the world's heather moorland is in the UK and the largest continuous expanse of moorland in England and Wales is here in the North York Moors. This special habitat and the plants and animals it supports are important nationally and internationally -  so much so that the majority is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area. 

Click on the links below to find out more.  

• Moorland and how it is managed
• Moorland sheep flocks under threat
• Moorland Wildlife
• Policy on Natural Environment, Biodiversity and Geodiversity (PDF 70.66Kb)
• Landscape Character Assessment 2003 - Moorland Description of moorland landscapes, pressures on moorland, predicted consequences of changes.
• Moorland Habitat Action Plan 2008 to 2012
• Moorland Regeneration Programme 1995 to 2001
• Moorland Research Review 1995
• Moorland Research Review 2000
• Moorland Research Review 2000-2005 
• Moorland Discovery Teachers Pack - an excellent resource for schools produced by the Peak District National Park Authority. 
• www.moorlandassociation.org  - information provided by the Moorland Association on moorland management,  grouse shooting, statistics and economics.
• Fylingdales Burn Site Monitoring Programme - Year 3 Interim Report and...  
• Fylingdales Burn Site Year 4 Report 2005 to 2008. (PDF 13.39MB) An opportunity for students to interpret and analyse different types of data from a real project - see article below.

Fylingdales Fire - a habitat restoration project 

In 2003 a devastating accidental fire burned for 5 days destroying 250ha of moorland vegetation and soil on Fylingdales Moor. The National Park Authority coordinated a large scale restoration project with the help of other partners and now the vegetation is recovering well in treated areas. Various restoration techniques were tried out and monitored using annual vegetation surveys in permanent quadrats. The monitoring report for 2005 to 2008 contains the results and data that can be used to compare the different restoration techniques.  

Wildfire and Archaeology: One positive effect of the Fylingdales fire was that hundreds of amazing archaeological features were revealed when the vegetation and soil were destroyed including examples of mysterious prehistoric rock art. Further information can be found in 'Wildfire and Archaeology' available from our online shop.