To most people, the mention of heather turns their thoughts to purple covered hills and moorland stretching for miles on all sides with our most common heather, Calluna vulgaris or ling dominating the scene.
Close examination will find the darker purple bell heather, Erica cinerea growing on the drier sites and the pale pink of the cross-leaved heath, Erica tetralix in the boggy parts.
The lowland heaths of Southern Britain are important habitats for many of our rarer mammals, reptiles, birds and insects but they are also home to some of our heathers too! Whilst all three moorland species can be found on lowland heaths, the rich pink summer flowers of Erica ciliaris or Dorset heath can only be found on the heath around Studland and in Cornwall. The Lizard peninsula is the home of our fifth species, Erica vagans or wandering heath with its shades of white to deep pink hidden in the long grass of late summer.
