Heather Burning / Muirburn / Swaling

This wonderful spell of weather, which in Dumfries seems to have been a very long time in coming, is coinciding with the peak time for heather burning.  However, I understand that in many parts of the UK those who are still within the local burning season, have had to stop burning because the conditions are too dry.  This is always frustrating, but I urge caution.  There is enough pressure for change to the burning dates and it does not help the cause if there are a series of out of control fires caused as a result of burning in unsuitable conditions.  The use of a small test fire is recommended as a way of testing the conditions before lighting a full size fire to see it set off across the hill faster than it can be controlled.

If there are any incidents of out of control fires I would welcome notification as it helps me to know of problems that have occurred.  Notification can be done anonymously as a comment to this blog entry, if it helps!

This type of incident is what everyone would like to avoid.  Note that there are several photos that can viewed.

Burning seasons:

Scotland: 1 Oct – 15 Apr + extension to 30 Apr with landowner’s permission

England: upland 1 Oct – 15 Apr, lowland 1 Nov – 15 Apr

Wales: upland: 1 Oct – 31 Mar, lowland: 1 Nov – 15 Mar

Republic of Ireland: 1 Sep - 31 Mar

Northern Ireland: 1 Sep – 15 Apr

Isle of Man: 1 Sep – 15 Mar