YORKSHIRE (NR): I came across a sign this week which, although common enough half a century ago, is seldom used now. I think some keeper, or perhaps a shepherd, with the old traditions still strong within him, must have put it up. Away over on a most desolate stretch of moor, far away from any of the various tracks, was a seven or eight feet high pole with a big bunch of ling tied to the top; a bigger edition of the besom-like things we use to beat out moorland fires. Years ago such a thing was a well-known sign to indicate the nearby presence of good drinking water. And sure enough, when I crossed over, there was a spring bubbling out of a little vividly green patch of herbage almost at its foot, the overflow trickling away down towards one of the distant ghylls and completely hidden in most places, by the high-growing heather. Perhaps this high growth of 10 or 12 years old ling was the indirect cause of the sign’s recent erection. The stuff was more than ready for burning off, and heather-burning, due any time now, is thirsty work.
This “muir-burn” is an important part of our higher-dales economy. Old, high heather is no good for anything – except shelter for grouse, and enough can be left for that. It is the younger growth which forms the succulent-feeding both for the birds and the moorland sheep. Fires do not destroy the roots – the flames pass over too quickly for that – and the palatable new shoots soon start thrusting through the ashes of the burnt-off areas. We plan the job, of course. Strips are burnt in rotation and the whole operation carefully thought out. Heather, to us up here, is an important crop.
