Britain's Burned Moors Can Turn Green in Weeks, but Full Recovery Takes Decades

Wildfires that swept Britain's upland moors and lowland heaths in unprecedented tinder-dry conditions left behind expanses of blackened vegetation, but ecologists say the first green shoots of recovery can appear within days rather than months. That is because heaths and moors contain several distinct habitats, each of which responds differently to fire.

Dry lowland heaths are dominated by heather, a dwarf shrub whose fine woody tissue burns readily, but the heat can stimulate germination of seeds buried below the surface, so seedlings can emerge within months and a recognizable heather canopy can re-establish within a few years. Wet heath behaves differently: hare's-tail cotton grass and purple moor grass form dense, fire-resistant tussocks that send up new shoots within days, while common cotton grass can regenerate rapidly from its protected root system.

More delicate plants fare worse. Cross-leaved heath depends on whether its roots stay protected by waterlogging as fire passes overhead, and sphagnum, or bog moss, can survive intense heat because its waterlogged tissue beneath the surface remains protected, producing fresh growing tips slowly even if scorched on the surface. Where fire burns deeply into dry peat, however, it can smolder for days or weeks, killing deep roots and the underground seed store and leaving bare peat that heather and cotton grasses may struggle to recolonize for a decade or more.

Over the past 250 years, drainage and managed burning converted much of Britain's naturally wetter upland bog into drier, heather-rich moorland that burns more readily. Familiar vegetation on these altered landscapes can return within five to ten years, but restoring the diverse plants that make a healthy peat bog function can take far longer without active intervention. Blocking drains and restoring sphagnum can return peatlands to wetter bog habitat within a decade, while restoring temperate rainforest on drier slopes takes longer but is already under way with government support.