After a wildfire Britain’s moors and heaths can be green again within weeks – but the real recovery takes much longer

By Richard Lindsay, Head of Environmental and Conservation Research, Sustainability Research Institute, University of East London

Wildfires that have swept across Britain’s upland moors and lowland heaths in unprecedented tinder-dry conditions have left behind expanses of smoking, blackened vegetation.

Once the smoke has cleared, what is recovery going to look like? How long before the first green shoots of recovery will emerge?

Remarkably, the answer to the latter question may be “days” rather than weeks, months or decades. That’s because both heaths and moors contain several distinct habitats, each of which responds differently to fire.

Dry lowland heaths are dominated by heather, a…

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