In this post we want to consider the effects of moorland burning, a management tool much favoured by the grouse shooting industry. There are many arguments for and against burning but one problem that never seems to be mentioned is the number of animals killed during moorland burning. Perhaps these active conservationists just don’t care.

Recent research on the Australian bush fires suggest that possibly a billion animals have died as a result of the bush fires there.  Fire is indiscriminate in its destruction and completely devastates the ground over which it burns. As well as those animals that are actually burned alive or suffocated by smoke the resulting devastation of habitat will condemn many others to a slow death by starvation and exposure. 

The situation in Australia has attracted worldwide concern and considerable funds have been allocated to trying to mitigate the damage and prevent further outbreaks.

Here in the UK we also have fires that destroy wildlife. Our moorland fires are mostly caused not by accident but by the deliberate act of gamekeepers seeking to maximise heather shoots for their farmed grouse.

Moorland areas are home to many small and medium sized mammals such as shrews, voles and mice which are particularly vulnerable to fire. They are burned alive, chocked by smoke or left to try to find food in an area of complete devastation. The damage is not just to mammals. Adder hibernacula, often common on heather moorland, are also highly vulnerable with the occupants burned as they sleep.

The government at Westminster has been swithering over banning moorland burning for a long time now. A temporary ban was introduced in Scotland but by way of amendment to a government bill and to howls of anguish for the driven grouse shooting industry and their acolytes. Firm action is needed now to ban the deliberate burning of moorland across the UK. The driven grouse industry may argue that the smoke that hangs like a shroud over their land is not at all bad for your lungs. They may argue that the run off that floods towns and villages further down the valley is nothing to do with moorland burning. They may howl in anger when the destructive power of fire is removed from them but the volume of their cries will not equal that of the many species they so ruthlessly burn alive.