Country diary: For now, this heathland is in good hands | Jennifer Jones

Heswall, Wirral: Residents call their heath ‘the dales’. As I walk, I wonder what my great grandma would have seenThe soil, a storyteller of great wisdom, assured me I was in the right place. The ash-grey layer, lacking colour and nutrients, spoke of many thousand years’ formation. A lifetime of high rainfall and acid conditions had forged a soil ideal for the habitat I sought: heathland.Heswall dales western lowland heath, a site of special scientific interest and a local natu