Heathland on Chynalls Point, on the south Cornwall coast. The word ‘heath’ is derived from the plant, heather, that thrives best in the poor, acidic soil of land that has been cleared of trees, then grazed by animals to prevent the trees growing back. The area of heathland covering mainland Britain today is about 2,000,000 acres/8,094 sq km, or roughly a fifth of what existed at the end of the 17th century. Heather is frequently found growing together with spring-flowering yellow gorse.