{"id":67687,"date":"2025-07-16T17:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T17:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/67687\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T17:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T17:12:09","slug":"the-place-is-bleached-a-dead-zone-how-the-uks-most-beloved-landscapes-became-biodiversity-deserts-national-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/67687\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The place is bleached, a dead zone\u2019: how the UK\u2019s most beloved landscapes became biodiversity deserts | National parks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dartmoor is a place where the wild things are. Rivers thread through open moorland past towering rocky outcrops. Radioactive-coloured lichens cling to 300m-year-old boulders. Bronze age burial mounds and standing stones are reminders that humans have been drawn here for thousands of years. It is considered one of the UK\u2019s most beautiful<\/a> and precious landscapes.<\/p>\n

Much of this moorland is officially protected as a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) because it is considered home to the country\u2019s most valued wildlife. Its blanket bogs, heathlands and high altitude oak woodlands are treasure troves of nature.<\/p>\n

But the wildlife that once depended on these habitats is vanishing. Dartmoor is known for its diverse birdlife, but breeding populations of<\/a> golden plover, red grouse and ring ouzel have disappeared, or are on the verge of local extinction.<\/p>\n

Conceived of 75 years ago<\/a>, there are 15 national parks across the UK, designed so every citizen could immerse themselves in nature and beautiful landscapes. But their beauty can be misleading \u2013 experts say many of the landscapes that are formally recognised for their rich natural heritage are actually deserts for biodiversity.<\/p>\n

About 850 farmers, or commoners as they are known, have the right to keep sheep, cattle and ponies on Dartmoor<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have become so used to these landscapes,\u201d says author and campaigner Guy Shrubsole, who advocates for Right to Roam on Dartmoor. \u201cGood geology hides a lot of problems. We\u2019re admiring rocks and not what should be a living ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re admiring rocks and not what should be a living ecosystem<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Guy Shrubsole, campaigner<\/p>\n

In some cases, species and habitats are in a worse condition<\/a> within national parks than they are outside them. In May, Natural England released its latest assessment of Dartmoor\u2019s three largest protected sites, which cover nearly a quarter of the national park. The results show just 0.1% of them<\/a> are in a favourable condition. The amount of land area in an unfavourable and declining condition has doubled since the last assessment in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cDartmoor is dying,\u201d says Tony Whitehead, a Dartmoor nature campaigner, who crunched the Natural England data.<\/p>\n

The conservation campaigner Tony Whitehead, left, with author Guy Shrubsole, walk on Hen Tor<\/p>\n

National parks should be at the heart of the government\u2019s pledge to protect 30% of land by 2030, but estimates suggest less than 3%<\/a> of land in England is actually being protected. \u201cWhat should be the best is the worst,\u201d says Whitehead. \u201cThey are absolutely failing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018We could lose the heather altogether\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hen Tor is a one hour walk up from Trowlesworthy car park. This landscape \u2013 which falls within South Dartmoor special interest area \u2013 used to be known for its carpets of purple heather at this time of year.<\/p>\n

But today, finding any heather at all is hard work. Getting down on our knees, we spot a handful of heather flowers hidden among the grasses. Tiny bits of bilberry \u2013 which once formed dense bushes \u2013 cling on around stones. Floral diversity has been replaced by a uniform expanse of grass, grazed close to the ground by sheep.<\/p>\n

A combination of overgrazing and moorland burning leaves these areas in poor ecological health.<\/p>\n

In winter, when this grass is sparse, sheep turn to the heather and bilberry. According to Natural England<\/a>, this is leading to a \u201csharp decline in heather cover\u201d. Monitoring data suggests heather cover has dropped from 25% to 1% in some areas of Dartmoor in recent years. \u201cWe could lose the heather altogether,\u201d says Whitehead. \u201cIt\u2019s almost all gone. What is happening here is replicated on other commons around the moor.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is 1752685929 your bog-standard rough grazing land<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tony Whitehead<\/p>\n

At the top of the hill, a mantle of deep peat sits on top of the moor like icing on a sticky bun. But due to historic extraction and repeated burning it is in a poor state. Degraded peat has encouraged the spread of vast stretches of purple moor grass. Monocultures of the species now smother<\/a> many upland areas, creating ecological dead zones. Deep scars \u2013 peat hags \u2013 have opened like wounds. Just 1% of Dartmoor\u2019s deep peat<\/a> is considered to be healthy.<\/p>\n

The nature campaigner Tony Whitehead<\/p>\n

Consequences trickle down. These habitats should be a stronghold for nationally declining birds such as ring ouzel, curlew, tree pipit and whinchat, but they are increasingly rare to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ever had to describe a desert that is on a common, it is here,\u201d says Whitehead. \u201cIt\u2019s just desperate \u2013 the place is bleached, it\u2019s a dead zone and I know how rich it could be. This is the exemplar of a bad site but it is not an anomaly.\u201d<\/p>\n

If it were assessed again today, Whitehead says this landscape would not be designated an SSSI. None of the features that made it special are here any more. \u201cThis is 1752685929 your bog-standard rough grazing land across uplands across the UK,\u201d says Whitehead<\/p>\n

A failing system<\/p>\n

At the root of the issue is land ownership. Most land within national parks is privately owned and, particularly in the uplands, used for grazing by farm animals. In Dartmoor, just 7.5% of land<\/a> is publicly owned, and conservation is seen as secondary to economic interests.<\/p>\n

Across UK upland national parks, overgrazing and moorland burning are driving these areas into poor ecological health, and a heating climate is heaping on the pressure. Conservation<\/a> bodies and park authorities often have limited funding to monitor and restore ecosystems.<\/p>\n

In 2024 the first full assessment<\/a> of how national parks are supporting nature recovery found that just 6% of park land in England and Wales is being managed effectively for nature.<\/p>\n

Most land within national parks is privately owned, and, particularly in the uplands, it is used for grazing<\/p>\n

Mike Madgwick, from the National Trust \u2013 which owns Hen Tor \u2013 says Natural England\u2019s latest assessments are consistent with the trust\u2019s own monitoring, which he described as \u201cdeeply concerning\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese landscapes are nationally important for their wildlife, heritage, and beauty. The National Trust is committed to reversing this decline,\u201d says Madgwick.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that the current system was failing: \u201cWhile the Trust has worked within the frameworks available, including government-funded schemes, we acknowledge that these have not delivered the ecological outcomes needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2024 assessment, by Campaign for National Parks, found a chronic lack of funding was preventing park authorities from improving the situation. The parks\u2019 direct grant funding from government has been cut by 40% in real terms since 2010. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, none of the UK national parks<\/a> meet the international definition of a protected area.<\/p>\n

Deep scars, known as peat hags, have opened in the landscape<\/p>\n

Pressure is mounting to improve the situation. The campaign group Wild Justice has launched a legal challenge<\/a> to the Dartmoor Commoners\u2019 Council (DCC) for failing to meet legal environmental duties. The hearing was held in the high court on 15 July.<\/p>\n

The land in the Dartmoor case is used by farmers \u2013 called commoners \u2013 with rights to graze livestock on the land.<\/p>\n

There are about 850 commoners, or owners of properties on the commons, who have rights permitting them to keep sheep, cattle and ponies.<\/p>\n

David Wolfe KC, for Wild Justice, said in written submissions that DCC has failed \u201cto ensure that the commons are not overstocked\u201d and has not issued any limitation notices \u201cin the last 10 years\u201d. He asked the court to order DCC to comply with its statutory duties and carry out an assessment of the number of animals that can graze, as well as order it to issue limitation notices.<\/p>\n

The Dartmoor Commoners\u2019 Council say that natural beauty \u2018is a core consideration\u2019 in their members\u2019 farming practices<\/p>\n

The DCC says it has made assessments of overgrazing, and its legal representative said natural beauty \u201cis a core consideration\u201d.<\/p>\n

The case concludes on 16 July and a written judgment is expected at a later date.<\/p>\n

The DCC denies that it has breached those duties \u201ceither as alleged or at all, and has defended the proceedings accordingly\u201d.<\/p>\n

Signs of life \u2013 in the car parkTiny heather plants found near Hen Tor. Monitoring data suggests heather cover has dropped from 25% to 1% in some areas<\/p>\n

Within the crags of Hen Tor itself, tiny oases of life survive. Protected from grazing, a bilberry bush and mountain ash tree are thriving. Likewise, around the car park in the valley, a wealth of bracken and scrubby trees attract garden warblers, blackcaps and thrushes.<\/p>\n

Ironically, it is these edge landscapes \u2013 protected from the pressures of grazing \u2013 that hold the most biodiversity, and show what this land could still be. \u201cDartmoor still has some amazing places, but they are small,\u201d says Whitehead.<\/p>\n

Despite decades of overgrazing, small heather shoots<\/a> can still be found \u2013 albeit in a fragile state \u2013 which means restoration would be possible, if done soon enough. \u201cThis land needs a rest, there should be no sheep here over winter\u201d, says Whitehead, who says if sheep stocking densities were lower, the land would start to bloom again.<\/p>\n

If not, ecologists believe the wildlife that once lived here will become a relic of the past \u2013 the place where the wild things once were.<\/p>\n

The quiet crisis unfolding here is not isolated but repeated across UK national parks. Understanding what is happening means looking more closely \u2013 not just at the beautiful scenery, but all that is missing too.\u200b<\/p>\n

This article was amended on 16 July 2025 to remove wording which suggested that all the land in the case brought by Wild Justice was owned by the National Trust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dartmoor is a place where the wild things are. Rivers thread through open moorland past towering rocky outcrops.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":67688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[746,159,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-67687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114864032804935166","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}