Coping with beetle mania

Calderdale Moorland Group

One of our moorland gamekeepers sent this picture in of some heather beetle larvae that he has a lot of on his moor.

In the past, before a lot of restrictions were put in place, gamekeepers would burn areas that were affected by Heather Beetle to kill the larvae regeneration and to help regrowth. Without this tool it takes a lot longer for the heather to come back and is therefore having a knock-on effect on our wildlife.

Heather Beetle is a widespread and common insect species found across Britain. The larvae (and to a lesser extent the adult beetles) feed on the leaves of heather plants, stripping them bare and damaging the health of the heather. In a normal year, small patches of heather will be “beetled”, but it is usually the case that the plants recover in a few months.

Periodically, heather beetle populations expand into huge outbreaks, in which millions of beetle grubs can decimate hundreds of hectares of carefully managed heather.

In many areas, the Heather Trust believes that the heather beetle has been instrumental in driving the change from heather to grass dominated moorland. This is a particularly significant cause of moorland decline in the wetter areas, generally on the west side of the country where there is often greater competition from grasses. Molinia is often the chief competitor.