Heswall, Wirral: Residents call their heath ‘the dales’. As I walk, I wonder what my great grandma would have seen

The 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 nature reserve, is one of only two remaining on the Wirral peninsula in north-west England. The 29 hectares (72 acres) of well-draining desert sandstone, coupled with prevailing acid conditions, had created a mosaic of heathers, bilberry and western gorse. Today’s heaths are threatened, with 85% of England’s having been lost over the past 150 years. I was visiting a habitat of some rarity and sensitivity.