Muirburn benefits clear to see in TV documentary

A Channel 5 documentary, Our Great Yorkshire Life, has shown the vital contribution that heather burning makes to Yorkshire’s moorland landscapes 

Ian Sleightholme, headkeeper at the Bolton Estate in the Wensleydale Valley, explains to viewers how heather burning is done and how it creates a patchwork quilt of regenerating moorland. 

He demonstrates a cool burn in which the fire spreads across the canopy of the heather, leaving the moss and peat below largely untouched. He shows how burning small areas of heather removes the older growth and stimulates the development of new heather, bilberry and other grasses. 

Mr Sleightholme told ST: “Filming with Channel 5 was a great opportunity to showcase how we manage our moorland vegetation through seasonal burning and it was great to see our moors from a bird’s-eye view with the drone footage. 

“The way we control our burns in a patchwork effect creates fantastic habitat, not only for the grouse but other red-listed species such as curlew, golden plover and merlin. It creates all different ages of regenerative heather that drastically reduces any chance of wildfires and locks in more carbon, so it’s win-win all round.” 

Season three of Our Great Yorkshire Life is showing now on Channel 5.