WALKING across the heathlands of Burlish Top and Rifle Range last month, there was very little bright colour to be seen, the only exception was the occasional patch of gorse just coming in to bloom.

For this reason, my eye was drawn to the subtle colours of the various shades of the heathland grasses.

By far the most beautiful of these must have been the delicate blue-grey hue of the grey hair grass. However, it was a frightening thought that this heathland beauty is in fact a national rarity and without particular care and appropriate management may well become threatened with extinction.

Since his arrival on earth, man has been the cause of the demise of many an animal and plant species.

Probably the most famous of these catastrophes was the fate of the dodo. The dodo's fate was sealed when its ancestors, a type of pigeon, arrived at the island paradise of Mauritius.

Mauritius had no predators and an ample supply of food for this bird and over time these birds evolved into large flightless animals which led an idyllic existence. This all came to an end when people arrived on the island and looked at these birds as a source of food.

This and the introduction of the animals associated with man, namely dogs and rats, resulted in the total annihilation of the dodo in less than 200 years.

Another bird which has suffered a similar fate to the dodo, which is much less well known, but to me is even more shocking is the more sinister answer to the common trick question of "why don't polar bears eat penguins?" The common and correct answer is because polar bears live at the north pole and penguins live at the south pole.

However, this was not always the case. Until 1844, living on the shores of Iceland and Greenland well into the traditional range of the polar bear were the original penguins.

While not exactly the same family as the penguins commonly encountered in the south pole these birds were extremely similar in that they too were flightless using their wings as underwater hydrofoils to propel themselves after their favourite food - fish. They even have the same distinctive black and white plumage.

The extinct northern birds were discovered first and called penguins. When the southern birds were found their similar look meant that they were also given the name penguin.

The demise of the northern penguins can be placed at the feet of people. These harmless and trusting birds were commonly exploited by sailors who would round up whole colonies and kill them for food and oil for lamps.

Fortunately, these days attitudes to wildlife have, in the most part, changed.

Many of the wild animals whose habitat or lifestyle has brought them into competition, or led them to be exploited by people, have now found champions in the form of conservation bodies, dedicated individuals and even national governments.

It is perhaps some small comfort that the fate of these animals made extinct at our hands has in some part shocked us into taking the conservation of the remaining species seriously, and so preserving the marvellous variety of life which makes our world so wonderful.