Scars on the landscape that can be seen from space - RSPB
%20(Tim%20Melling).jpg "a wet pool in blanket bog on the top of a moor with a brooding sky in the background")
A new RSPB study reveals how high-resolution imagery can help map moorland burning. The results show the extent of burning, which is often associated with grouse moor management, on sensitive peatland habitats and protected sites.
- A new RSPB study using satellite imagery shows where sensitive habitats are being burned.
- More than a third of all annual burning is shown to take place on peatland.
- But fewer burns have taken place following the introduction of tougher regulations in England.
The paper was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation.
An average of 15,250 hectares, the equivalent of 21,350 football pitches, was burned per year during the five-year study. Around a third of the area burned each year was on sensitive peatland habitats.
The new mapping approach also shows how the introduction of better protection for peatlands in England in 2021 may have led to significant reductions in the amount of moorland burning taking place each year.
Mike Shewring, RSPB Conservation Scientist and lead author of the study, said: “These methods are a powerful tool for assessing where and when burning is taking place, allowing the effectiveness of regulatory action to be tracked. In the first year following the introduction of the regulations, the area of land burned in England reduced by 73 per cent compared to the previous four years of the study - a reduction that was not mirrored in Scotland or Wales.”