Interesting news that the National Trust has purchased Slepe heath in Dorset which will link together two areas of this protected and rapidly vanishing habitat (http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/nov/06/national-trust-dorset-slepe-heath-thomas-hardy). Much is made of the purchase providing a location that might appeal to Thomas Hardy readers ('Return of the Native' and all that) but one should remember that heathland is essentially a human-created environment (in Dorset, it was a by-product of the Industrial Revolution) and has be be maintained by controlled burning and removal of organic material to prevent transition to scrubland and, eventually, forest. Still, this is good news for animals such as the Smooth snake and the Dartford warbler
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