Cornwall Wildlife Trust is deeply saddened by the weekend's fires across Bodmin Moor.

Callum Deveney, Director of Nature Recovery at Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said:

“All around us, we’ve been witnessing nature springing into life, which makes the timings of these fires so distressing. Ground-nesting species like skylarks will have had nests destroyed, and other species such as adders, lizards and field mice are likely to have perished. Grazing animals on the moors are also at risk, and we know only too well how stressful it can be for these animals, having recently witnessed the distress our own ponies experienced following the arson attacks at our Rosenannon Downs nature reserve."

Whilst it is not yet clear how these fires started, we are deeply concerned that they may once again have been set deliberately by people who aren’t considerate of the time of year and the untold damage this can cause to nature. We are in an ecological crisis, and reports of fires of this kind across the UK are likely to have a serious impact on wildlife.