The Great Heather Gamble

Europe is burning, and nobody has bothered telling the weather. Wildfires in Spain and France are breaking records while the Cairngorms also feels the heat. The North York Moors is not a stranger to this chaos. A massive blaze last year turned twenty-five square kilometres of one moor into a cinder¹Winn Darley, George. “Wildfire In The North York Moors – A Detailed Account.” Moorland Association, 6 Oct. 2025, https://www.moorlandassociation.org/post/wildfire-in-the-north-york-moors-a-detailed-account..

The Moorland Association has weighed in with an article saying wildfires are a national risk that Britain treats as a local nuisance. It argues that responsibility is a mess, spread across authorities and ministries that do not speak to one another. Their proposed solution is a national strategy that relies, not unsurprisingly, on the people who manage the land—their gamekeepers²Beeson, Rob. “Wildfire Is a National Risk. Britain Treats It Like a Local One.” Moorland Association, 28 July 2026, https://www.moorlandassociation.org/post/wildfire-is-a-national-risk-britain-treats-it-like-a-local-one..

I will not pretend to have the answers here, but there is always a nagging thought at the back of my mind about what is really driving this proposal. That the “cold burns” being pushed are just a handy way of producing more red grouse. The shooting lot welcomes swiddens of young heather shoots to keep their birds plump and happy for the guns. They call it conservation when it is really just landscaping for a hobby with a body count³Thacker, J.I., et al. Burning in the English Uplands – A Review, Reconciliation and Comparison of Results of Natural England’s Burn Monitoring 2005 – 2014. Natural England, 9 June 2015, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improvement-programme-for-englands-natura-2000-sites-ipens..

Natural England believes that rewetting the peat is the better firewall. A wet bog is a tough obstacle for any flame⁴“Moorland Association lodges appeal against recent High Court decision to refuse judicial review of Defra’s peatland burning regulations.” Raptor Persecution UK, 8 Feb. 2026, https://raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/02/08/moorland-association-lodges-appeal-against-recent-high-court-decision-to-refuse-judicial-review-of-defras-peatland-burning-regulations/.. Landowners think this is a load of codswallop and insist that burning the vegetation, “reducing the fuel load”, is the answer. So there we are, a classic British standoff, arms folded on both sides, while the whole continent quietly catches light.

• 1
  Winn Darley, George. “Wildfire In The North York Moors – A Detailed Account.” Moorland Association, 6 Oct. 2025, https://www.moorlandassociation.org/post/wildfire-in-the-north-york-moors-a-detailed-account.
• 2
  Beeson, Rob. “Wildfire Is a National Risk. Britain Treats It Like a Local One.” Moorland Association, 28 July 2026, https://www.moorlandassociation.org/post/wildfire-is-a-national-risk-britain-treats-it-like-a-local-one.
• 3
  Thacker, J.I., et al. Burning in the English Uplands – A Review, Reconciliation and Comparison of Results of Natural England’s Burn Monitoring 2005 – 2014. Natural England, 9 June 2015, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improvement-programme-for-englands-natura-2000-sites-ipens.
• 4
  “Moorland Association lodges appeal against recent High Court decision to refuse judicial review of Defra’s peatland burning regulations.” Raptor Persecution UK, 8 Feb. 2026, https://raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/02/08/moorland-association-lodges-appeal-against-recent-high-court-decision-to-refuse-judicial-review-of-defras-peatland-burning-regulations/.