Heathland Species

It’s generally considered a species-poor habitat – but Welsh heathland is associated with a variety of special plant and animal species.

Some of the rarer plants that make this habitat their home include: spotted rock-rose, ciliate strap lichen and golden hair lichen on coastal heath; pale dog-violet and pale butterwort on wet heath; and hoary rock-rose on limestone heath.

Birds such as the stonechat and linnet often sing from patches of tall heather and gorse. Choughs, with their distinctive red bills and legs, are characteristic of coastal heaths – look out for them feeding amongst the short heath and grasslands of Pembrokeshire, Llŷn and Anglesey. In the lowland heaths of South and West Wales, you might spot the Dartford warbler, a newcomer to the area that has recently moved up from its old confines in south-west England.

Look closer and you’ll see that lowland heathlands contain some notable invertebrates. The rare black bog ant, for example, makes its nest in wet heath, while the southern damselfly is found on streams and rills within wet heath and bog. The tiny silver-studded blue butterfly, on the other hand, prefers areas of warm, open vegetation, where its caterpillars feed on heather, gorse and bird’s-foot trefoil.