Willing to be corrected though?
Yes they can overgraze or more precisely since they are selective feeders even in relatively low numbers they can push an area to a more monocultural appearance.
Young saplings are apparently really tasty as are most wildflowers so anywhere with sheep are going to have a reduced number of those. For trees in particular this makes any regrowth pretty much impossible.
Since Bracken and Heather isnt overly nice conversely those do well when sheep are around.
There are some sites where sheep have been deliberately excluded and over a few years the difference in fauna is quite startling.
@dissonance Thanks, that’s pretty much what I’d understood, which is why sheep grazing areas tend to be monoculture grassland (which burns quite well) while impeding the regeneration of deciduous woodland (which doesn’t).
I’d understood that sheep were prone to overgrazing (and certainly grazing everything flat to the point that nothing other than grass can survive)
Very much so. Ive just been reading an article about exactly that in the Howgills, and how there's a project to exclude sheep from some areas where trees have been replanted
Similar on the Long Mynd in recent years, theres fewer sheep but a small herd of semi wild ponies instead, reduced grazing pressure is leading to more trees surviving.
