Heather, Bracken, Birch and all that
Once Blacka's main central section was a grouse moor, little different to the other upland areas in the district. Trees were absent and actively discouraged by sheep grazing and heather burning. It was part of the Duke of Rutland's shooting estate and maintained by gamekeepers who were instructed to keep the public off the land. Before the decision was taken to sell the land in the 1930s it had already begun to decine as a grouse moor. After the purchase for Sheffield City Council it gradually lost its character as a grouse moor and flourished as a more natural site with scattered groups of trees establishing.
As this process continued heather became long and 'leggy', bracken spread and a range of trees colonised parts of the moor offering a degree of variety and interest not seen on other nearby moors such as Burbage, Houndkirk and Hallam Moors. Rowan is now a feature in spring and late summer. Holly, Oak Pine and Beech are also prominent. It is these changes that have brought in the great joys of Blacka, the summer songbirds and Britain's largest wild animal the red deer.
Bracken is often cited as a problem and also as a reason for 'management'. But there is no real answer to it on the present scale. An increasingly wooded profile itself helps to control bracken that cannot compete with tree growth and shading for dominance. It should also be borne in mind that bracken's vigour occupies a very short window in the year, mainly mid-June to mid-August following which it gets scorched by the colder nights and stops growing. It is also responsible for magnificent scenic benefits during autumn when the sunrise often paints bracken with stunning colours.
Those who wish to promote heath and moorland management usually claim that heather habitats are a vital and declining feature. This is disingenuous. Northern England is dominated by treeless moorland landscapes that are utterly artificial having been created by the wholesale cutting down of forests followed up by industrial scale sheep farming and then grouse moor management. This latter was initially by the landed gentry and more recently for the business interests of those who profit from corporate shooting weekends typically enjoyed by city firms such as investment bankers.
If moors were not managed in this way they would become fascinatingly wild in much the same way that Blacka has evolved in recent years. The justification for management seems to rest on the belief that moorland habitats are favourable to certain bird species. This ignores the fact that other just as interesting bird species and mammals favour the more natural vegetation that succeeds heather in the form of native woodland.
On Blacka spring can be seen and heard as a new season, with fresh greenery and Rowan in flower and dozens of sweet singing summer visiting warblers competing from the branch tops. Nearby treeless grouse and sheep moors such as Burbage Moor remain much as they have done through the winter and make scarcely any change until in a sudden spurt of colour during August they produce three weeks of wall to wall purple.
The other spectacle that Blacka now offers is the sight of red deer. These animals are timid and don't like to get too close to humans. The trees scattered across the moor and along the woodland edges give them cover which they do not find on open moorland leading them to prefer Blacka to other moorland sites. They have learned that standing near single trees or groups means they are less likely to be seen. Deer also make good use of bracken. Hinds find the rampant growth of bracken comes at just the right time of year to conceal the young deer calves when they are at their
most vulnerable.
In winter and spring dead bracken makes a wonderful dry litter in which to lie soaking up the warmth of the sun after a cold night out browsing on the moor.