We wanted to update you that our herd of seven Shetland ponies has now been moved to a safer location while we undertake recovery work at Rosenannon Downs nature reserve. The ponies are all in good physical health, but moving them took two days and six of our team due to their stressed state following the fire.
The fire was larger than initially expected and our team have now mapped it out and discovered it covers an area of just over 86 acres, or approximately 65 football fields.
Many commenters have suggested that the fire was a land management practice called swaling, a controlled burn used to manage vegetation. While this is a practice we undertake at times, and have done at Roesnannon Downs with the support of local people and members of the fire brigade, we can categorically confirm that we would not have carried out a controlled burn at Rosenannon Downs at this time of the year. On the spring equinox when wildlife is awakening, ground-nesting birds are beginning to nest, and species like adders are emerging. If we carry out swaling, it is of small, controlled patches at the correct time of year, calculated to avoid disturbance to wildlife and away from fences and private property. We would not have lit a fire when winds were so strong or at that time of the evening. We consider this fire an attack on nature and a serious risk to people and property in the area.
While the burning of heather and grass is permitted between 1 November and 31st March, this is a broad rule which covers the whole of the UK and our climate in Cornwall is milder than other parts of the country, meaning spring usually arrives a little earlier. While burning is permitted, Cornwall Wildlife Trust tend to avoid it in March. Controlled burns also must adhere to the following guidelines.
Burning heather and grass safely
When you burn heather and grass you must:
- start burning between sunrise and sunset
- have enough people and equipment to control the burn
- take all reasonable precautions to prevent people getting injured
- take all reasonable precautions to prevent damage to the surrounding land and anything on it
When burning you must not:
- cause injury, interruption or danger to road users
- create smoke likely to damage human health or cause a nuisance
- disturb or destroy wild birds and their nests, or other protected animals, plants and habitats
- damage important monuments
- pollute watercourses and groundwater, for example through soil erosion caused by burning
