JANUARY was certainly a time when it looked as if Armageddon had broken loose on Burlish Top Nature Reserve.

Tractor mounted heavy-duty flail mowers were used to cut into large swathes of scrub gorse.

Six-foot gorse and broom were transformed into great tracks of bare ground or centimetre high vegetation.

To many this seemed scandalous and an act of wanton destruction but it was actually a time of rebirth for this area.

The gorse and broom had, over time, encroached into the area and they covered and killed a wealth of rare heathland plants. However, not all the heath was lost and this drastic cutting has allowed many of them to once again find their niche and thrive.

A walk over these mown areas of Burlish Top now reveals such a different sight from six months ago and from what it looked like three months ago when it had just been cut.

It is hoped the cutting work would allow a lowland heath habitat to re-establish with a mosaic of bare areas, acid grassland and heather heath. It all looks to be going well.

The existing areas of heather dominated heath are thriving with this year's growth set to flower spectacularly in August. New heather plants can also be seen sprouting up.

Heath grasses are also doing well. Great seas of the delicately flowered, purple-stemmed wavy hair grass can be seen across the whole site.

The very rare and endangered grey hair grass is thriving, producing a healthy crop of flower heads this year.

New plants can be seen germinating.

Sheep's sorrel put up a lovely display of deep red flowers in early June. Now the cut areas are starting to bloom with the deep blues of sheepsbit scabious and the sunshine yellows of hawkweeds and St Johns wort. The gorse and broom are still there, but in much reduced stature. As such, they are not a bad addition to the heath community.

On the downside, some of the birch and oak trees are still thriving, as is the bramble. The winter mow will keep both of these in check from now on.

More worrying though, is the amount of rosebay willow herb on the site, which if left unchecked could easily spread across the site.

As in previous years it is proposed to keep this under control by giving it a mow before it has chance to set seed. This will be done in the next few weeks.

Bracken is a problem, but mowing it would not benefit the heath too much. It is proposed that this is treated with the selective herbicide asulox which will only affect the bracken. The wildlife of Burlish Top has much been improved by the regime and I hope that in future years this method will result in a much valued wildlife preserve.