Why Heathland Is a Pollinator Powerhouse

From a distance, heathland can look stark: low dark bushes, sandy tracks, a wide sky. Up close it is one of the richest insect habitats in Britain. Lowland heath is internationally scarce, and this country holds a large share of what remains, largely in the New Forest, Surrey, Dorset, Cornwall, the Brecks and parts of the Welsh borders. Its mix of heathers, gorse, dwarf shrubs and open ground supports an exceptional range of bees, butterflies, hoverflies and moths.

Three features make heathland so productive. The soils are poor and free-draining, so plants put their energy into flowers rather than lush growth. The open structure lets sunlight reach the ground, warming the soil and the layer of air just above it — exactly what cold-blooded insects need before they can fly. And the flowering season runs almost continuously from late winter to autumn, so there is rarely a gap in the larder.

• Bare, sandy ground for mining bees, solitary wasps and burrowing invertebrates.
• Warm, sheltered pockets along tracks and banks where butterflies can bask and hoverflies hover.
• Varied flower shapes, from deep tubular heather bells to shallow, open blooms that suit short-tongued visitors.

Heather and Gorse: The Mainstays

Ling, or common heather, is the backbone of the heathland year. Its tiny mauve bells open from roughly July to September, and on a good site the nectar flow is extraordinary — heather honey is prized precisely because bees can gather so much so quickly. Long-tongued bumblebees, honeybees and countless solitary bees work it steadily through the heat of the day.

Two other heathers extend the season. Bell heather flowers earlier, from June into August, with deeper purple, more open bells that suit a wide range of visitors. Cross-leaved heath prefers the damp hollows and flushes, flowering from July to September and keeping wet heath useful when drier ground is baking.

Gorse is the great bridge between seasons. Common gorse carries its coconut-scented yellow flowers through winter and early spring, giving newly emerged queen bumblebees their first proper meal. Western gorse and dwarf gorse take over in late summer and autumn, flowering into October and filling the gap before ivy and the last asters.

Wildflowers of the Open Heath

Between the shrubs lies a low matrix of wildflowers that many visitors never notice, yet it keeps pollinators fed when the heather is between flushes.

• Tormentil, a small yellow cinquefoil flowering from May to September, is visited by small bees, hoverflies and beetles.
• Heath bedstraw, with its froth of tiny white flowers in midsummer, attracts hoverflies and small solitary bees.
• Lousewort, a pink-flushed semi-parasite of damp heath, offers early nectar in May and June.
• Devil's-bit scabious, flowering from August into October, is one of the best late sources for bumblebees and butterflies.
• Bird's-foot trefoil and wild thyme on shorter, grazed patches add protein-rich pollen through the summer.
• Bramble and willow along the edges supply masses of blossom in late spring and early summer.

Bees, Butterflies and Hoverflies Through the Year

Heathland has its own specialists. The heath bumblebee is small, shaggy and largely dependent on heather, nesting low among the stems. The bilberry bumblebee favours northern and western heaths with a good bilberry crop. Among solitary bees, the heather colletes and the heather mining bee are almost wholly tied to ling, timing their emergence to its flowering. All of them need bare or sparsely vegetated ground to nest in, which is why sandy tracks and eroded banks matter as much as flowers.

Butterflies use the heath in different ways. The silver-studded blue, whose caterpillars are tended by black ants, flies in June and July over young heather and gorse. The grayling and small heath bask on bare ground in high summer. Green hairstreak favours scattered scrub, and dark green fritillary works the taller flowers in July. Hoverflies are everywhere on warm days, hovering over tracks and settling on tormentil and bedstraw, while moths — including the spectacular emperor moth — take over the night shift, pollinating flowers that open or scent most strongly after dark.

Management That Keeps the Nectar Flowing

Heathland does not stay heathland by itself. Left alone, it scrubs over with birch and pine within a few decades and the flowers disappear. Practical management keeps the mosaic open:

• Light grazing by cattle, sheep or ponies creates the short, flower-rich patches that many insects need, without stripping the heather bare.
• Rotational burning or cutting on long cycles of fifteen to twenty-five years produces stands of heather at different ages, so there is always young, freely flowering growth.
• Scrub and bracken control stops trees closing the canopy, but scattered bushes should be left for shelter and nesting.
• Keeping bare ground open on tracks and banks protects nesting sites for solitary bees and basking spots for butterflies.
• Protecting wet flushes preserves cross-leaved heath, bog asphodel and the insects that depend on damp ground.

Getting the Most from a Heathland Visit

Late July to early September is the peak, when ling is in full flower and the whole site hums. Go on a warm, still morning, walk slowly along sunny tracks rather than straight across the middle, and watch the bare ground — grayling and small heath will often sit there, wings closed, before flying. A hand lens turns a patch of tormentil into a busy little world of small bees and hoverflies.

If you garden near heathland, you can help by planting heathers, gorse, tormentil and devil's-bit scabious, leaving a patch of bare sandy soil unmulched for nesting bees, and avoiding any spray on flowering plants. Small gestures like these join up the fragments and give heathland pollinators somewhere to go when the flowers fade.