Quantock Hills. An Area of Outstanding Beauty

Lydeard Lowlander

22 Apr 10

I saw the big black patch on Woodlands yesterday from Hare Knap, it looks like it was a real roaring blaze, absolutely nothing left. There used to be a lot of thick gorse there if I remember correctly. Will anything apart from Dartford Warblers have been affected?

Andy Harris

05 May 10

Yes the “Wild Fire” did destroy a large area of gorse which was prime habitat for Dartford Warblers.  However as it was so close to the end of the swaling season (31st March) it is my hope that very few actual breeding birds were caught up in the blaze as it was unlikely that any were actually on eggs.  However what is suitable habitat for Dartford Warblers is also great habitat for species such as Linnets (which we saw flocks of during the fire), Pipits, Whitethroats as well as other similar heathland species that have now lost valuable breeding ground.  Other than birds I’m sure many invertebrates would have been caught up in the fire as well as small mammals and reptiles all important species found on the heath.  Although this happened just after the swaling season had it been a later summer fire it would most likely have devastated the actual heathland plants as not only everything above ground level is burnt away but the fire / heat often travels underground destroying the roots and dormant seed resulting in the ground being bare for many years.

Finally, back to Dartford Warblers the reason I’m so concerned about fires affecting their population is because their numbers here and elsewhere in the country have crashed due to the past two severe winters and the area that was destroyed by fire was deliberately left as prime habitat to encourage any recovery.

Hopefully this is the last of the “wild fires”