Heather Burning

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fitzcoraldo wrote:
I guess we could say that fire occurs naturally on moorland and is one of natures great levellers. However it should be noted that moorlands are essentially man-made deserts, monuments to mans prehistoric conquest of the landscape.
Seems to me we read the prehistoric highlands were a mosaic of small conifer stands and meadows. Surely that would have been subject to fires? Is it the totally treeless "moorlands" you think are unnatural?

I guess I was being a little harsh on our prehistoric ancestors but yes I am saying that the heather moorlands are unnatural. Heather moorlands are managed primarily to provide to an optimum environment for the breeding of grouse. I guess I cannot blame our prehistoric ancestors for the creation of all of these moorlands, post glacial climatic changes are probably the primary driving force behind their formation. However in some locations, prehistoric human disturbance of forested areas can be seen as a proximal trigger for blanket peat formation.
Take a look at this picture
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/43971
This photo was taken a year after a devastating fire that not only destroyed the heather but also removed a few centuries worth of peat.
If I had taken a photograph from the same position just before the fire, all you would have seen would have been a thick blanket of heather.