The Ranger Report September 2026

Reproduced from CPC’s Chorleywood Matters September Newsletter. 
 

Heathland is a relatively rare habitat in Hertfordshire and Chorleywood is lucky to host some small but significant patches of heather dotted around the Common. Ideally these areas would be grazed by livestock to keep the sapling trees and bramble at bay but because of the heathland’s location, either next to the roadside or amongst the golf course fairways, grazing isn’t an option.

In order to preserve the unique mosaic of habitats that Chorleywood Common provides, our ranger team, often with the help of volunteers, periodically remove the emerging trees and bramble that, if left to grow, would turn the area into scrub and eventually woodland. Following on from their efforts in previous years, a volunteer group from Cytiva will be back in September to support us with this important task.

Despite the continuing drought turning the Common into a dust bowl, you can spot the purple blooms of the heather against the brown scorched earth, with desperate bees and butterflies making the most of the last drops of available nectar. The best place to see the heather is along Common road either side of the all but dry Darvells Pond

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