Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas,
and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing
vegetation on acidic soils.
Moorland nowadays generally means uncultivated hill land, but the Old English mōr also refers
to low-lying wetlands.
It is closely related to heath although experts disagree on precisely what distinguishes the
types of vegetation.
Generally, moor refers to highland, high rainfall zones, whereas heath refers to lowland zones
which are more likely to be the result of human activity.
Moorland habitats are most extensive in the neotropics and tropical Africa but also occur
in northern and western Europe, Northern Australia, North America, Central Asia, and the Indian
subcontinent.
Most of the world's moorlands are very diverse ecosystems.
In the extensive moorlands of the tropics biodiversity can be extremely high.
Moorland also bears a relationship to tundra, appearing as the tundra retreats and inhabiting
the area between the permafrost and the natural tree zone.
The boundary between tundra and moorland constantly shifts with climate change.
Heather moorland
Along with heathland, moorland is the most extensive semi-natural vegetation of the British
Isles.
The eastern British moorlands are similar to heaths but are differentiated by having
a covering of peat.
On western moors the peat layer may be several metres thick.
Scottish ‘muirs’ are generally heather moors, but will also have extensive covering
of grass, cotton-grass, mosses, bracken and under-shrubs such as crowberry; with the wetter
moorland having sphagnum moss merging into bog-land.
There is uncertainty about how many moors were created by human activity.
Rackham writes that pollen analysis shows that some moorland, such as in the islands
and extreme north of Scotland, are clearly natural, never having had trees; whereas much
of the Pennine moorland area was forested in Mesolithic times.
How much the destruction of this forest was caused by climatic changes and how much by
human activity is uncertain.
The ecology of moorland A variety of distinct habitat types are found
in different world regions of moorland.
The wildlife and vegetation forms often lead to high endemism because of the severe soil
and microclimate characteristics.
For example, in England's Exmoor is found the rare horse breed the Exmoor Pony, which
has adapted to the harsh conditions of that environment.
In Europe, the associated fauna consists of bird species such as Red Grouse, Hen Harrier,
Merlin, Golden Plover, Curlew, Sky Lark, Meadow Pipit, Whinchat, Ring Ouzel, and Twite.
Other species dominate in moorlands elsewhere.
Reptiles are few due to the cooler conditions.
In Europe, only the Common Viper is frequent, though in other regions moorlands are commonly
home to dozens of reptile species.
Amphibians such as frogs are well represented in moorlands.
When moorland is overgrazed, woody vegetation is often lost, being replaced by coarse, unpalatable
grasses and bracken, with a greatly reduced fauna.
Some hill sheep breeds, such as Scottish Blackface and the Lonk, thrive on the austere conditions
of heather moors.
Management Burning of moorland has been practiced for
a number of reasons, for example when grazing is insufficient to control growth.
This is recorded in Britain in the fourteenth century.
Uncontrolled burning frequently caused problems, and was forbidden by statute in 1607.
With the rise of sheep and grouse management in the nineteenth century it again became
common practice.
Heather is burnt at about 10 or 12 years old when it will regenerate easily.
Left longer, the woodier stems will burn more aggressively and will hinder regrowth.
Burning of moorland vegetation needs to be very carefully controlled as the peat itself
can catch fire, and this can be difficult if not impossible to extinguish.
In addition, uncontrolled burning of heather can promote alternative bracken and rough
grass growth which ultimately produces poorer grazing.
As a result burning is now a controversial practice; Rackham calls it ‘second-best
land management’.
Mechanical cutting of the heather has been used in Europe, but it is important for the
material to be removed to avoid smothering regrowth.
If heather and other vegetation is left for too long, a large volume of dry and combustible
material builds up.
This may result in a wildfire burning out a large area, although it has been found that
heather seeds germinate better if subject to the brief heat of controlled burning.
Moorland in literature
The development of a sensitivity to nature and one's physical surroundings grew with
the rise of interest in landscape painting, and particularly the works of artists that
favoured wide and deep prospects, and rugged scenery.
To the English Romantic imagination, moorlands fitted this image perfectly, enhancing the
emotional impact of the story by placing it within a heightened and evocative landscape.
Moorland forms the setting of various works of late Romantic English literature, ranging
from the Yorkshire moorland in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and The Secret Garden by
Frances Hodgson Burnett to Dartmoor in Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmesian mystery The Hound
of the Baskervilles.
Enid Blyton's Famous Five series featured the young protagonists adventuring across
various moorlands where they confronted criminals or other individuals of interest.
Such a setting enhanced the plot as the drama unfolded away from the functioning world where
the children could solve their own problems and face greater danger.
Moorland in the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire is the setting for Walter Bennett's The Pendle
Witches, the true story of some of England's most infamous witch trials.
In Erin Hunter's famous Warriors series, one of the four Clans, WindClan, lives in the
moorland.
Notable moorlands Notable areas of upland moorland in Britain
include the Dark Peak, the Forest of Bowland, the Lake District, the Pennines, Mid Wales,
the Southern Uplands of Scotland, the Scottish Highlands, and a few very small pockets in
western Herefordshire.
Bleaklow, Dark Peak, UK Bodmin Moor, Cornwall
Dartmoor, Devon Exmoor, West Somerset & North Devon
Forest of Bowland, Lancashire North York Moors, North Yorkshire
Migneint, Gwynedd Mynydd Hiraethog, Denbighshire and Conwy
Rannoch Moor, Highlands, Scotland Rombalds Moor, West Yorkshire
Rossendale Valley, Lancashire Saddleworth Moor, Greater Manchester
Shropshire Hills, small pockets of moorland such as the Long Mynd
Staffordshire Moorlands West Pennine Moors, including Oswaldtwistle
Moor, Haslingden Moor, Rivington Moor and Darwen Moor in Lancashire
Ythan Estuary complex, Aberdeenshire, Scotland: largest coastal moorland in the United Kingdom,
known for high biodiversity There are numerous moorlands outside the UK;
some other notable examples are: Längsee Moor, Austria
Tanner Moor, Austria Großes Torfmoor, Germany
Sumapaz Paramo, Bogotá, Colombia See also
Exmoor pony Fen
Páramo References