Following the great ordeal of the war, and the subsequent restorative efforts, the natural ecosystem returned to its natural state. The open heathlands returned, and the secondary woodlands of pine and birch took back. In some places, rare flat-topped pines remain individually or in small groups, having survived the harshness of the war years.

For the National Trust, it was finally business as usual. Their custodian duties of protecting the ecosystem, maintaining the balance of heath, scrub and woodland, and their responsibilities to keep the land available for public enjoyment could resume once more. The work of the National Trust on Ludshott Common is an ongoing process, and although the war was the greatest tribulation encountered in the Common’s management, it was certainly not the last. In 1980, a fire that began on the east side of the site quickly gathered pace and consumed three hundred acres of heath, scrub and secondary woodland before it was put out. Although this event was catastrophic for much of the heathland, warden Chris Webb acknowledges that there was one advantage. The fire decimated much of the scrub vegetation which was, in that period, beginning to grow beyond control. In many places, the limits of the encroaching scrub, now kept painstakingly at bay, were dictated by the wildfire of 1980.

Fig 5-1: Views of the differing landscapes of heath, scrub and woodland on the Common.: Left: Thick gorse scrub shares the open heart of the Common with the heathland. Right: Dense woodlands of conifer and birch surround the edges of the Common, particularly in the south west. A view of the open heathland can be seen in Chapter 1.

(c) Matthew Tilley