SWALING
One of the important skills is known as swaling; this
is an ancient practice where commoners burned
tall, overgrown heather, gorse and long rank grass
to improve the grazing for the animals in the
next season. Today this practice is very carefully
managed as to frequency and area of burns allowed
in the interests of conservation under the Heather
and Grass Burning Code. Nationally burning can
only take place between 1 November and 15 April.
On Dartmoor a voluntary code ends burning on
the 31 March because, in the south west, groundnesting
birds often become territorial and the
skylark, meadow pipit and the rarely seen curlew
are beginning to nest by then.
Where there are insufficient animals to graze
certain parts of the moor, the resulting overgrown
vegetation presents a dangerous risk of accidental
fire. These fires are difficult to control and can burn
for many days destroying vast areas of the fragile
environment, threatening wildlife and
grazing animals. The public are asked
not to light fires and to be aware of
the increased fire risk during dry
weather.
Swaling Checklist
