HOME SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT PRACTICAL CONSERVATION PEOPLE & COMMUNITIES PUBLIC BENEFITS THE BIG DEBATES
Moorland Scotland...
Your gateway to information about managed moorland in Scotland
This site has been set up by the Scottish Countryside Alliance Educational Trust as a guide to the most authoritative and up to date information on Scotland’s moorland. This site is for students and teachers, for journalists and policy makers – for anyone who cares about Scotland’s moorlands.
Special Interest
Countryside Survey 1998 - 2007
Scottish Moorland continues to decline
The newly published Countryside Survey (www.countrysidesurvey.org.uk) gives a picture of how land type and vegetation has changed across the UK in the last decade (1998 - 2007).
A more detailed study for Scotland is being prepared in conjunction with SNH and will be published in April, but already the trend appears clear.
Moorland in Scotland
(Chapter 7 - Mountain, Moor and Heath in Countryside Survey) has been in decline for the last few decades but that decline is now levelling off. Between 1990-1998, 95,000 ha of dwarf shrub heath (Upland and Lowland) disappeared, where as in the last decade only 18,000 ha were lost. However, this was in contrast to the rest of the UK where losses in previous decades are now being reversed.
Key Statistics
Upland Dwarf Shrub Heath decreased by 12,000 ha about 2% decrease in the last decade.
It now covers 9.8% of Scotland.
Bracken increased by 11,000 ha about a 9% increase - 1222 ha per year.
Bracken now covers 1.7% of Scotland