Heather
Q. Why is the amount of heather on the course in decline?
A. Mainly because of the way we now play golf. We play all winter taking great heavy power caddies through the heather. If there is one thing heather hates it is being walked on or rolled down. On any hole on the course where there is heather in the rough nowhere is it in greater decline than where the majority of errant drives land. Heather hates being shaded and the amount of shade caused by birch invasion has an effect. Heather likes infertility, but birch leaves in autumn increase the fertility of the soil. Gorse is a legume and as such fixes atmospheric nitrogen into the soil, again increasing fertility.
Q: What can be done to reduce the declining amount of heather on the courses?
A: We know the reasons heather is declining in certain areas. Particular reasons include increased fertility from birch leaves, invasion of scrub and birch woodland along with increased use of traffic through the heather, particularly the ease with which electric buggies go through the rough.
To restore heather we need to eliminate the causes of the decline by removing scrub and birch woodland as well as trying to route traffic away from heather areas. However to restore it drastic action is required. This involves complete stripping of the built up organic matter from above the mineral layer by mechanical means. This involves hiring machinery to undertake the task.
Walton Heath Golf Club for example hired a machine dedicated to this task at a cost of in excess of £400 per day and that was a fair few years ago. This is to expose the seed bank that is in the last 5mm or so of this layer. Heather seed can remain viable for between 40 and 60 years. Regeneration is not always guaranteed and it can take up to 3 years for results to show. Areas that do not naturally regenerate can have brashings containing seed spread over them. The Conservators have had a lot of success on the forest using this method.
At RAFGC a number of areas out of play have come back very successfully after just scraping off the top layer. Piltdown Golf Clubhave successfully re-established large areas by complete removal of trees and the organic layer above the subsoil and fencing off to keep feet and trolleys out.
This area at the top of the Old Course a few years ago, as can be seen above, was nothing but bracken and birch scrub with a thick layer of organic matter on it. It was all scraped off down to the subsoil. After 12 months there were very few heather seedlings showing. After a further 12 months things were more encouraging with more seedling coming up. In the third year all changed with the area nearly completely covered in heather.
As can be seen it looks very different after 3 years with little tufts of scrub gorse showing through. These have to be regularly topped to stop them taking over and smothering the heather.
This is a different area of approximately 1 acre in no mans land between the 8th and 12th fairway on the Old Course. Stripped of its vegetation in the winter of 2003, this is what it looks like today. This is where the heather turf was taken from for the patch on the right hand side of the 12th green. Unfortunately it is very difficult to cut as turf because of the large amount of shale and sandstone beneath the surface. (29/03/07)
Heather Life Cycle Stages and Succession
The life cycle of Heather (Calluna vulgaris), which is usually one of the dominant plants of British heathlands, can be described in terms of four main stages.
These are:
Pioneer;
Building;
Mature;
Degenerate.
Heather is slowly being restored to the Heathland Restoration site. The Heather is currently in the pioneer phase of development.
The pioneer phase lasts 5 - 6 years, from seedling development and establishment until the plant has developed into a fully formed bush.
In the pioneer phase, Heather cover is small and other species of vascular plants reach their greatest abundance.
(above: Heather on the Heathland Restoration project site.)
The building phase lasts until the plant is about 15 years old, when the bush-like form is well-established. In the building phase, Heather excludes all other species.
The mature phase continues until the plant is about 25 years old. Growth takes place much as in the building phase, although gradually it becomes less vigorous and towards the end of the phase, the centre of the bush begins to open and branches grow on the soil surface. By the mature phase, bryophytes (mainly mosses) colonize the soil surface because of increased humidity beneath the closed canopy.
The degenerate phase, leading to death, is entered into after 30 years. The active growth of the leading shoots declines and the plant canopy continues to open and exposes more ground.
Bryophytes reach their maximum abundance in the degenerate phase and as the canopy becomes more open and bare ground appears, other species of vascular plants and Heather seedlings are able to re-establish.
Where succession to woodland is checked, a mixed age structure of heather develops and plants representing all phases are distributed throughout the vegetation. When large areas are destroyed (for example, through fire), large, homogeneous areas of vegetation where all the plants belong to one phase (having the same age and structure), develop.
The structural changes taking place in the Heather community have profound effects on the development of other species, considerably altering such factors as microclimate and available bare ground for colonization. This can be translated into comparable stages in the development of heathland.
(Please note, the life cycle of heather information on this page is from Webb 1986)