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RAUK - Archived Forum - Early heath fire

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Early heath fire:

Author	Message
Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi	Posted: 16 Feb 2007 Hard to believe this as we had floods the other day but it must have been dry enough to catch fire. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/6367447.stm Suz

Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi	Posted: 16 Feb 2007 It seems that this fire is considered to have been deliberately started as the damp conditions present rule out an accident. We seem to be getting more and more of this happening it's a wonder we have any heath left. Suz

herpetologic2 Senior Member Joined: 15 Jun 2004 No. of posts: 1369 View other posts by herpetologic2	Posted: 16 Feb 2007 Ironic really when the heaths I have seen recently it is the ones which are regularly burned which regenerate better than the mown, grazed and bulldozed ones JC Vice Chair of ARG UK - self employed consultant - visit ARG UK & Alresford Wildlife

Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi	Posted: 16 Feb 2007 The latest thinking is that the heath fire was not arson after all. I don't know enough about controlled burning, if that is what you meant, to comment except to say that one area that burnt by accident in East Devon was completely black and bare for eight years before anything grew back. Some of our heaths are small in comparison with the northern grouse moors where a bit of burning is only affecting a small percentage of the total. Suz

GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF	Posted: 16 Feb 2007 There is only one good way to manage heathland, it isn't bulldozing, it isn't burning, it isn't spraying with chemicals, it isn't mowing and it isn't grazing. It is working the heath as it would have been originally, something we will never see again. (Though some amount of controlled burning and grazing was involved our heathlands were then vast in comparison to today.) I've seen both sides of the argument, Hindhead Commons had sand lizards and smooth snakes before the lot went up in 1946, I think most will agree the fire wiped out the indigenous populations of both these species whilst the widespread species recolonised. (well maybe it wiped them out, but that is another story) - so a negative result. I've also seen on some of the small heaths around towns some good come of small fires, certainly better than bulldozing all the roots out of the soil. I think the trouble is that fires have a heavy hit on the less vagile species, so sand lizards, smooth snakes and adder can be wiped out very easily in a single fire, whilst the other three reptile species may actually benefit in the long-term from small fires on poorly managed heath in the later stages of succession. GemmaJF39129.7536458333 Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant

AGILIS Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 No. of posts: 694 View other posts by AGILIS	Posted: 28 Feb 2007 I DONT KNOW WHEN THE HEATH WAS BURNT DOWN BUT ITS BETTER TO HAVE BEEN BURNT THIS TIME OF YEAR AS NOTHING IS MOVING ABOUT AND WILL SURVIVE DUE TO BEING OUT OF THE IMMEDIATE FIRE ASSUMING IT WAS ONLY A SURFACE FIRE THAT WOULD NOT PENETRATE TO DEEP HOPEFULY REGARDS KEITH LOCAL ICYNICAL CELTIC ECO WARRIOR AND FAILED DRUID

AGILIS Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 No. of posts: 694 View other posts by AGILIS	Posted: 28 Feb 2007 LOCAL ICYNICAL CELTIC ECO WARRIOR AND FAILED DRUID

herpetologic2 Senior Member Joined: 15 Jun 2004 No. of posts: 1369 View other posts by herpetologic2	Posted: 28 Feb 2007 Hi Keith Have you got your caps lock on - capital letters are often an indication of 'shouting' or 'angry words' in email speak - so maybe best to turn the caps lock off just in case people dont get the wrong idea - debates can be heated at the best of times - so I AM NOT SHOUTING OKAY! JC Vice Chair of ARG UK - self employed consultant - visit ARG UK & Alresford Wildlife

Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi	Posted: 28 Feb 2007 Keith, Yes I'd agree better now than later. Although best of all is not at all. Suz

Alex2 Senior Member Joined: 16 Dec 2006 No. of posts: 266 View other posts by Alex2	Posted: 28 Feb 2007 [QUOTE=AGILIS]I DONT KNOW WHEN THE HEATH WAS BURNT DOWN BUT ITS BETTER TO HAVE BEEN BURNT THIS TIME OF YEAR AS NOTHING IS MOVING ABOUT AND WILL SURVIVE DUE TO BEING OUT OF THE IMMEDIATE FIRE ASSUMING IT WAS ONLY A SURFACE FIRE THAT WOULD NOT PENETRATE TO DEEP HOPEFULY REGARDS KEITH [/QUOTE] No disrespect Keith (and welcome to this forum) but even those that are still below ground may well wake up to a barren landscape devoid of food and cover from predators?

- Early heath fire

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