We present some preliminary results of simultaneous monitoring of the two flare stars, UV Ceti and EQ Peg with EXOSAT and ground based optical spectro-scopy. A strong correlation, found between the Hγ emission and the soft X-ray flux, over several hours of observation of UV Ceti, suggests that much of the low level X-ray flux which has previously been considered ‘quiescent’, in fact derives from small flare events. The implication is that coronal heating in M type dwarfs may result directly from the frequent occurrence of micro-flares.