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Enjoy the countryside...
Most local people head into the beautiful Peak District at this time of year, but take care with your campfires, cigarettes and barbecues. David Bocking reports
Peak Park rangers surveying the scorched site at Howden Moor
...but don’t set it alight
R ECENT late-night parties with fires and barbecues on the north Peak District moors could have caused terrible
damage to moorland and wildlife, warned local landowners.
“At this time of year it’s very easy to inadvertently start a moorland
fire just by leaving your barbecue behind,” said Ted Talbot, National Trust Countryside Manger for the Peak District. “And actually building a fire on moorland heather is frankly reckless.”
In 2016, a large fire started by a discarded barbecue devastated over 200 acres of moorland near Stainery Clough on Howden Moor, and was eventually damped down by a team of over 60 firefighters, National Park and National Trust rangers, and local gamekeepers. Two rangers were injured during the firefighting which also burned several grouse nests and damaged the moorland for years to come.
“Heather is very combustible, especially in dry conditions, so we’d say to visitors on local moorland please don’t light fires or use barbecues where you might end up causing a similar incident to the one two years ago,” said Ted Talbot.
The Peak District moors see fires every summer, with more than
350 moorland fires recorded over the last 40 years, most of which were caused by campfires, cigarettes, barbecues or were deliberately started. Unauthorised fires of any kind are not allowed on Access Land, which covers much of the Peak District moorland.
After a large party on Blackamoor in early May, rangers are still regularly finding more abandoned barbecues on local moorland.
Parties on the moors also bring the problems of litter removal, said Ted, adding that recent incidents meant several rangers clearing up cans, paper and broken glass, which can itself start fires in the hot sun.
Ranger Tom Harman welcomes visitors clearing up abandoned litter, but added that if you come across a discarded barbecue in the Peak District, you shouldn’t necessarily put it in a rubbish bin, as it could start a fire there too. “
The best bet is to try and damp it down with some water if you have some,” he advised.
“We want people to come out onto our moorland and enjoy it in the summer months,” said Ted Talbot. “But please don’t set fire to it.”
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Fires can quickly devastate large sections of the Peak District (Photo Tom Harman)