The Ecology and Conservation Studies Society Free Public Lecture - Whatever happened to Hardy's Egdon Heath? Our current efforts to save lowland heathlands
When:
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Venue:
Birkbeck Main Building, Malet Street
No booking required
Whatever happened to Hardy’s Egdon Heath? Our current efforts to save lowland heathlands
Free public lecture part of the series This blasted heath – the future of lowland heathland, acid grassland and mire.
In Act I of “Macbeth”, Shakespeare used a heath near Forres as the forbidding setting of a supernatural encounter. Heaths have long had a bad public image. Most heaths are ancient. They were established when woodland was cleared in places with an underlying geology forming an impoverished acidic soil, and maintained by traditional practices. However, they are diminishing throughout the country, even if pockets are still to be found in the southern counties and in the suburbs of London. These remnant heathlands are now much valued as natural open spaces. They are precious because they support a specialised biota, some of which is not found elsewhere. Loss may occur from ecological succession following the neglect of traditional management, or conversion to agriculture or to urban development. How can the remaining patches be saved? How can these important areas be managed to best effect? Management practices in different sites will be discussed and compared. Current problems will be highlighted and specialised conditions for particular groups of plants and animals discussed.
Contact name:
Ecology and Conservation Studies Society