On Monday the heather burning season opens and the hills will start to be torched.
In the Labour Party’s Green Transformation document, launched last week at the Labour Conference in Liverpool, it states ‘End rotational heather burning and launch an independent review into the economic, environmental and wildlife impacts of driven grouse shooting‘.
You will remember that even Michael Gove and Therese Coffey are pretending to do something about the over-burning of our hills. unfortunately, their action is to get land owners to sign a non-binding agreement to stop damaging burning of blanket bogs (see here) and then to agree individual agreements with grouse moors that are more loophole that substance (see here).
The RSPB has issued a press release calling for no more burning of blanket bogs as follows:
The RSPB is calling on the Government to honour its commitment to end the damaging practice of setting fire to England’s upland peat bogs, especially on grouse moors.
This Monday (1 October) marks the start of the new burning season, which permits land managers to set fire to areas of moorland (a practice known as rotational burning), including peat bogs, to encourage new heather growth and provide favourable conditions for red grouse.
Upland peat bogs (especially blanket bog) provide a valuable array of public benefits including providing a home for wildlife, countering climate change by locking up carbon, reducing flood risk, purifying drinking water and slowing the spread of wildfire.
However, the majority of upland peat bogs are in a poor state, with only an estimated 4% of them in England in a healthy condition. They have been affected by a range of damaging activities for many years including burning.
Following pressure from the European Commission to end burning on blanket bogs, Natural England – the agency entrusted with protecting the countryside in England– is attempting to negotiate the end of rotational burning on blanket bog across over 100 grouse moors. While some shooting estates have already agreed to stop rotational burning on bogs, a number of these have then been given permission by Natural England to continue to use fire to remove heather as part of a wider programme of work to supposedly restore damaged peat bogs. This so called ‘restoration burning’ is a misnomer: Natural England’s own evidence shows that burning actually damages peat bogs by drying them out, thereby robbing the public of their numerous benefits. Bogs need water not fire.
Healthy peat bogs with peat-forming sphagnum mosses help counter climate change by removing carbon from the atmosphere and locking it up in the peat. But when we damage peat that carbon is released which exacerbates climate change. In England alone, it is estimated that damaged upland peat bogs release the same amount of CO2 into the atmosphere as 140,000 cars annually. Three quarters of this is a direct result of burning the vegetation on peatlands.
Water quality is affected by peat bog condition. Healthy bogs produce clear water but damaged peat bog causes the water that runs off it to turn brown. This is a serious problem as around 70% of the water that comes out of the tap in Britain comes from the uplands. As a result, water companies have to spend a lot of money each year removing this peat colour to clean the drinking water for people’s homes. This cost is passed on to consumers through water bills.
Burning on peat bogs also reduces the variety of plants, and the wildlife that depends on them: benefiting just a handful of fire-tolerant species. In England, burning has changed many peat bogs, replacing their rich mix of bog plants and pools with a monoculture of heather.
Pat Thompson, RSPB Senior Land Use Policy Officer, said, “It’s a quarter of a century since stubble burning on fields was banned in the UK over environmental and safety concerns. Now it’s time for burning on our precious upland peat bogs to be similarly consigned to history.
As the burning season gets underway, we will, along with others, be watching to see if Government commitments to stop rotational burning actually result in less burning. Our peat bogs are too important for both people and wildlife for us to sit back and let them be damaged any further.’.
ENDS
If you live in the uplands of England, I wonder how much burning of blanket bog you will see over the next few months. Defra and Natural England would be pleased, I’m sure, to see any images of ongoing blanket bog burning.
Strong stuff from the RSPB. However it is fairly obvious that NE will try to continue to have “agreements” which do exactly the opposite of that suggested by the RSPB.
The top people at NE are brazen enough to believe that they can do as they wish.
I think they are right.
I read your what you write, and whilst I disagree with pretty well all of it, I at least credit you with usually turning out well written, thought through material. With regard to this particular blog, I feel you’re beginning to lose it. That the RSPB is putting out such politically motivated Press Releases, with assertions not based on fact, and that you’re prepared to re-print it to whip up a frenzy come 1st October and the start to legal muir-burning, aimed at supporting the calls for licensing or a ban to grouse shooting, is ill judged and smacks of desperation, on the part of both parties. I also feel a Judicial Review in the air, and that you’re keen to get your shots in early.
Perhaps you could be more specific? Which assertions are “not based on fact”, in your opinion?
If you live in the uplands of England, I wonder how much burning of blanket bog you will see over the next few months? – Non as most of the burning will be in the New Year. Farmers hate it as it takes away grazing through the winter so spring burning has the chance of at least fresh grass being around. Red Grouse will already have territories so spring burning adds pressure on numbers as cocks have to fight for new ground and in the old days could result in disease hitting your crop of birds.
With low numbers of Red Grouse around here keepers will be hoping for good weather for larger number of burns this season. Bad weather means more cutting potential and already ‘ring cutting’ is more often used to prevent burns escaping onto ground not wanted to be burnt.
Interesting though one head keeper has left the moor for a lowland job due to pressure on his former blanket bog. Too wet and less heather and less chance of driving birds to the guns. He did leave holding the record bag for the estate knowing it would be hard to be beaten!
It is good to see the RSPB taking a strong stand here, at least with their words. They seem to have covered all the points against burning upland bog. It would be interesting to see the counter “argument” put up by the grouse killing for fun lobby.
There’s a fairly helpful map of peatland and carbon rich soils in Scotland at http://soils.environment.gov.scot/maps/thematic-maps/carbon-and-peatland-2016-map/
I suggest, given that the ‘new’ Muirburn code in Scotland states that burning should not take place on peatland (“Good practice, as defined by the Code, makes it clear that burning of peatland should not take place, except as part of an approved habitat restoration plan.”) and that agricultural support payments require peatland to be not burned, that any evidence of such burning especially photographs should be sent to the local Scottish Government RPID office for their attention. https://www.ruralpayments.org/publicsite/futures/topics/customer-services/contact/
Inappropriate muirburn is supposed to result in financial penalties.
“Supposed to result in financial penalties” but that needs a robust enforcement and sadly statutory agencies lack vertebrae IMHO and experience.
If ever there was a case for robust stance for enforcement it was Walshaw and look what happened there 🙁 But, thankfully the RSPB took it on ….
If you don’t record and report, then you can’t complain about inaction. Walshaw is in England and I cannot speak about circumstances there with any confidence. All I can say is that RPID have acted upon information that I, and others, have sent in the past.
Some of us are still trying to get the green plastic track removed from Cut Gate in The PDNP. It was installed, for moorland “restoration” without planning permission (as have been some new shooting butts), and has been refused retrospective planning permission. Apparently the landowners are to have a meeting with senior members of PDNP to discuss the matter. Several weeks ago some of us asked (via email) those people what is on the agenda. No reply! No surprise!