With the start of the muirburn season (1st October – 15th April) now upon us, many upland farms and estates across Scotland will be watching the weather forecast with a view to burning. However, in the context of a climate and nature crisis, and with increased scrutinization of muirburn practises, it’s important that estates are adequately prepared for the coming season.
Muirburn is a vital conservation and land management tool.
This is particularly pertinent in light of the Scottish Government’s declaration of its intention to licence muirburn activities, regardless of the time of year it is undertaken. Although the detail of such a licence remains to be seen, we can be confident that monitoring of muirburn activities through muirburn plans, will become an essential component for any estate wishing to carry out muirburn in future. These plans should detail why, when and how you will conduct your muirburn, and include maps which document and monitor muirburn actives (e.g. locations of ignition points), illustrate high-risk areas and no-burn zones.
There is increasing evidence that muirburn conducted under controlled conditions (‘cool’ burns on longer rotations), can enhance carbon capture.
Muirburn, which covers the controlled burning of heather, gorse bushes and grasslands, is a vital conservation and land management tool. As a necessary part of red grouse management, it helps create a structural habitat mosaic that provides food and habitat for grouse and can be beneficial to a range of other moorland species, including mountain hare, golden plover, and merlin. There is also increasing evidence that muirburn conducted under controlled conditions (‘cool’ burns on longer rotations), can enhance carbon capture. Muirburn is therefore important to the local economy and environment.
Our expert advisors will work with you to build a comprehensive muirburn plan tailored to your needs.
The GWCT offer a bespoke Muirburn Advisory Service designed to support land managers in developing and monitoring simple and user-friendly muirburn plans. This service offers a number of options. From providing mapping and monitoring of muirburn activities to developing more comprehensive muirburn plans, we can provide specialist advice to help evaluate and manage risk of harm to the environment and ensure that management complies with best practice and meets any statutory restrictions.
We provide specialist advice to help evaluate and manage risk of harm to the environment from muirburn activities.
Details on options and pricing can be found here. Alternatively, if you have any questions about GWCT’s Advisory Services, or to book an initial consultation, please do not hesitate to get in contact with our Advisory team.
Hugo Straker
Head of Advisory, Scotland
07713 074147
hstraker@gwct.org.uk
Dr Nicholas Hesford
Advisor, Scotland
07896 006322
nhesford@gwct.org.uk
Marlies Nicolai
Advisor, Scotland
07930 024529
mnicolai@gwct.org.uk