As the hottest April on record dried the countryside – one outcome was sadly inevitable, fire. It is inevitable that many of the fires now being reported across the UK will be down to carelessness or malicious acts of arson. They add yet another threat to fragmented and all too small sites and they come in the middle of spring when the breeding attempts of wildlife will fail in the flames.
Just one example is Swinley Forest – it’s part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area (SPA) because of its importance for ground-nesting nightjars, woodlarks and Dartford warblers. The SPA extends across Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire and is already under pressure from development and recreational disturbance. Dartford warblers have been hit hard by the run of recent cold winters – the fires add to the pressure they are under.
Woodlark - a ground-nesting bird at risk from heathland fires.
We are re-doubling calls for great care in the countryside at the moment – and it’s not just the risk of fire. In areas like the Thames Basin Heaths where recreational pressure is intense that countryside users can help by simple acts like keeping dogs on leads.
In recent media work, Samantha Dawes, Conservation Manager at the RSPB South East, said, ‘The fires could not have struck at a worse time. It is the middle of the breeding season, when Woodlarks will already have chicks and Nightjars will have been establishing territories, and may have started laying eggs.
‘Although adult birds should be able to escape, the fires will destroy any eggs and chicks in its path.
‘This is a devastating reminder of the vulnerability of this ancient landscape and the unique wildlife that depends on it for survival.’
Uncontrolled heathland fires are one of the growing problems associated with increasing numbers of people living close to heathland sites. Hotter, drier summers, linked to climate change, are also increasing the risk and scale of uncontrolled heathland fires.
The Thames Basin Heaths SPA, a network of sites across Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire, is also home to a range of other specialist heathland wildlife including smooth snakes, sand lizards and many butterflies and dragonflies.
The RSPB has been working alongside local authorities and landowners to help protect the SPA from increasing urban pressures, which also include disturbance to ground-nesting birds from people and dogs, predation by cats, fly-tipping and vandalism.
To encourage more sensitive use of the heaths and limit damage, the RSPB is advising measures such as creating alternative open spaces for people to use, increasing rangers on the heaths, and improving public awareness of the historical and ecological importance of heathlands.
Ms Dawes added, ‘Now it will be more important than ever that Nightjars and Woodlarks are allowed to breed undisturbed in the areas of habitat not destroyed by the fire. People can help considerably by keeping dogs on leads in those areas.’
Heathland once covered vast areas of southern England, however since the 1800s forestry, agricultural intensification and urban development have contributed to the loss of 75% of this precious habitat.
Of course the problem is not confined to the South East of England – in Scotland the fires at Torridon are under control but others still rage. Fire crews are tackling moorland blazes at Mytholmroyd in West Yorkshire and at Belmont in Lancashire – both places I know from my days in the north and both places where fire will overwhelm the breeding attempts of ground-nesting birds. I hope the Yorkshire fire is not affecting nests of the twite, a tiny upland finch that nests on the moorland and is in serious decline.
Northern Ireland hasn’t escaped the fires and there, the long term impact on the habitat is also being highlighted on top of the immediate impact.
One additional tragedy that always accompanies the media coverage of the fires and the heroic efforts to get them under control is that it will prompt idiots to set more fires. We need rain.
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