Entire ecosystems have been “decimated” and endangered species put at risk after one of the worst wildfire seasons on record in the UK, charities have warned.
Vast areas of habitat for animals including butterflies, beetles and falcons have been damaged, and some peat bogs may take “hundreds of years” to recover following one of the driest Marches in decades combined with warmer than average temperatures in April.
Abergwesyn Common in Powys, Wales, was consumed by a 1,600-hectare (3,950-acre) fire, an area about 400 times larger than Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
The common is a site of special scientific interest (SSSI), and a breeding habitat for the area’s last known population of golden plovers. National Trust rangers now fear this rare, protected moorland bird may have been lost to the area entirely.
Chris Smith, the National Trust’s countryside manager for Mid and South Wales, said: “The impacts on wildlife are widespread, with birds’ nests, insects, amphibians and reptiles all scorched by fire.
“Whole ecosystems have been decimated and will remain altered well into the future.
“Alongside this, the huge loss of surface vegetation leaves the peat bogs we have been working hard to restore ... vulnerable to erosion and at further risk of fire and carbon loss.
“Where the flames burnt down to the peat soils, they will take hundreds of years to recover.”In 2024, South Wales fire and rescue service responded to 34 wildfire callouts between 1 January and 10 April. This year, it has faced 445 over the same period – a 1,200% increase.
In total, Wales’s three fire services have reported responding to more than 1,300 grass fires so far this year.
In Northern Ireland, recent fires on the Mourne Mountains have scorched land used by an array of wildlife including small heath butterflies, rove beetles, skylarks and peregrine falcons.
Small birds such as skylarks rely on insects and beetles for food, and in turn provide a food source for birds of prey.
In the Peak District, the National Trust said a recent fire on Howden Moor that stretched for 2km had caused £30,000-worth of damage, ruining years’ worth of conservation efforts.
The National Trust said it is adapting its landscapes by making big areas of land wetter and boggier, including by planting special mosses that hold water and by creating wetlands that, once established, act like natural fire breaks.
Ben McCarthy, its head of nature conservation, said the country needs “urgent government action” to help mitigate and adapt to grass fires and other climate risks.
WWF Cymru said the “devastating” wildfires were a “stark reminder that the climate and nature crisis is upon us”.
Earlier this month, the National Fire Chiefs Council warned it needed “long term and sustained investment” to cope with climate change and “increased demand” on its services.
At the time, it said there had been over 100 more wildfires this year than in the first three months of 2022.
