Political Landscape
I took this photograph on my phone last February but have posted it now because moorland burning is in the news. My photo was also used this week here in the excellent Raptor Persecution UK blog raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2021/02/16/enviro...
This was taken on a cloudless day in the Peak District and shows the air pollution caused by this seemingly small moorland fire. But the real damage is not quite so obvious as this with a double blow to the climate. The first blow is the simple unessential burning of a fossil "fuel" (peat), but more importantly healthy deep peat blanket bog should remove large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere, and thus help to counter climate change. But blanket bog damaged by fire cannot absorb CO2.
In 1993 farmers were prevented from burning crop stubbles when the Crop Residues (Burning) Regulations came into force in the UK. Yet moor owners are exempt from these regulations. Moorland burning also contributes to water discolouration in the reservoirs that we pay to have removed in our water bills, yet it continues on a massive scale in the uplands, and here in the Peak District National Park too. The moors and their wildlife survived perfectly well for the thousands of years before burning and gamekeepering.
This week 17 environmental organisations have written to George Eustace (Secretary of State for DEFRA) who has proposed a sort of "ban" on burning peat peat. But the "ban" is so riddled with loopholes and concessions to the grouse shooting industry that it will allow burning to continue unabated. These organisations are calling for a proper ban on burning of deep peat and you can read the letter and see the organisations behind it on the RPUK blog linked above. There is also strong public support for a ban, with recent polling showing that 62% are in favour of a ban, while only 3% are against it.
Finishing on a lighter note, that valley just this side of the burning is Mickleden Clough where Britain's first Marmora's Warbler was found in May 1982. That was one of my earliest rare birds in Britain but alas I never took a photograph. But here is a Marmora's Warbler taken by my friend Chris Galvin www.flickr.com/photos/chrisgalvinphoto/22997669301/in/pho...
Political Landscape
I took this photograph on my phone last February but have posted it now because moorland burning is in the news. My photo was also used this week here in the excellent Raptor Persecution UK blog raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2021/02/16/enviro...
This was taken on a cloudless day in the Peak District and shows the air pollution caused by this seemingly small moorland fire. But the real damage is not quite so obvious as this with a double blow to the climate. The first blow is the simple unessential burning of a fossil "fuel" (peat), but more importantly healthy deep peat blanket bog should remove large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere, and thus help to counter climate change. But blanket bog damaged by fire cannot absorb CO2.
In 1993 farmers were prevented from burning crop stubbles when the Crop Residues (Burning) Regulations came into force in the UK. Yet moor owners are exempt from these regulations. Moorland burning also contributes to water discolouration in the reservoirs that we pay to have removed in our water bills, yet it continues on a massive scale in the uplands, and here in the Peak District National Park too. The moors and their wildlife survived perfectly well for the thousands of years before burning and gamekeepering.
This week 17 environmental organisations have written to George Eustace (Secretary of State for DEFRA) who has proposed a sort of "ban" on burning peat peat. But the "ban" is so riddled with loopholes and concessions to the grouse shooting industry that it will allow burning to continue unabated. These organisations are calling for a proper ban on burning of deep peat and you can read the letter and see the organisations behind it on the RPUK blog linked above. There is also strong public support for a ban, with recent polling showing that 62% are in favour of a ban, while only 3% are against it.
Finishing on a lighter note, that valley just this side of the burning is Mickleden Clough where Britain's first Marmora's Warbler was found in May 1982. That was one of my earliest rare birds in Britain but alas I never took a photograph. But here is a Marmora's Warbler taken by my friend Chris Galvin www.flickr.com/photos/chrisgalvinphoto/22997669301/in/pho...