Saddleworth Moor on fire! (Pips)

Oh, that's really sad. It will take decades to recover, if at all.

Thanks Erhard. yes it is sad but I think that this moorland is very resilient and will recover relatively quickly over a few years like the Canadian forest fires that I witnessed just a couple of years ago. For the wildlife though, that is another story!
Cheers, Herb

Y a pas pire que le feu et surtout en période sèche.... C'est vraiment la catastrophe.
Certains disent que c'est nécessaire pour une meilleur régénérescence mais vu le temps qu'il faut pour on a que les yeux pour pleurer..C'est vraiment triste de voir des incendies pareils.
Ça arrive beaucoup chez nous aussi en été,on a eu déjà deux départs de feu ce mois ci.

Agréable fin de semaine.

Thank you my friend. Yes these fires are very sad. Fortunately we do not have many here in the North of England as it is so generally wet. I remember in my youth that some farmers users to burn some of the moorland to promote regeneration but I have never seen anything on this scale. I imagine there are a lot of fires in Algeria
Best Wishes, Herb

Schlimm! Das wird einige Zeit dauern bis sich das Gebiet erholt hat.

Thanks Rainer. Fortunately it seems that the fire did not get to the actual reservoir walks that I make but as you say, they will need lots of time to recover.

Best Wishes, Herb

Herb never in my wildest dreams would i ever think the UK would suffer the way we do in summer with fires. For such a green wet landscape this is totally way past belief, as a person who came to this land and had to get use to the summers and all that brings. i have been on the roof looking after my house and those in hose range, lived with the atmosphere totally smoked out. from what i know already from here wildlife does not fare well in a fast fire slow fires they have time , thats if they have seen a fire and know what to do to survive. hot lands yes but cool wet land not so readily expected.

dont expect it to recover any time soon i can still go back into areas year old and they are the same. the big BUT here is that it does recover in time and that time has to pass. the shot sends a chill as i know just what the total impact is here, other than just a great photo of a very sad event. i would not suggest you go there any time soon till winter.

great footage of this event we can only thank you for as its not some thing that any one of us would ever expect to see. all the best from a burnt brown land down under .

Hi Steve and thanks for these thoughts. Yes, like you, I would have not thought that we would have such fires. Even now as I type this, I can smell the burning peat in my room. As you say most improbable with our weather, but it seems that our weather pattern is going a little crazy. It was never in danger, at my house that we should have hot ash falling like on yours but cold ash yes, my car was full of it and it even landed on the pages as I read my book in my garden today. As I replied to Rainer, it looks like it may be a long time before it recovers. Glad you like this set which I have bow included even more. Herb

Really a pity, Herb. Hope it'll recover soon.

Thanks Daniela. I did go take a closer peek yesterday and fortunately the lower area's around the wonderful reservoirs were undamaged. I do hear however that it may take generations, if ever, to fully recover.
Best Wishes, Herb

California always had wildfires, but the season used to be short. Now, we already had our first major blaze, and it's not even July yet.
Nature does recover and is amazingly resilient. How we humans will fare over the next fifty or hundred years is another story, of which we are only seeing the beginning.

Thanks Sarah, I had experiences of giant forest fires whilst in the Rockies a year or so back and so I do know that they recover ok but I hear that this moorland might never fully recover in our lifetime.
Regards, Herb
Keep safe!

Superb shots of the fire and smoke Herb...............but it's a sad thing to happen and pretty disastrous for the wildlife and local people. It's fortunate that, as far as I know, nobody has been killed or injured.

The firefighters are doing a marvelous job in quite dangerous and unpleasant conditions, and I'm sure the Armed Forces will be a great help to them.

Keep safe..!!

Hi Keith. I took some closer shots yesterday as can be seen in the updated PiPs. Fortunately as I walked to my favourite reservoir Dove Stones it looked like a normal Summertime Sunday with lots of people around just enjoying the almost perfectly normal scene. But, at the waters edge stood two fire-engines and I could see with my long lens, the fire crews batting down the smouldering fires at the top edge of the moors. The crews coming down looked exhausted in the 30C temps. See link above for wildlife effects here.

Cheers, Herb

Hi Herb

A really useful memory. I believe someone got caught for starting this?
I remember many years back, way before digital, we had a fire like this on the moors by Tan-y-Bwlch. Going there the next day was an eerie experience, everything black, just like another planet.

Best wishes, and a good weekend!
Peter

PS, I saw a cracking photo of the full moon rising over the flames which someone had posted, but I can't find it now. I thought that might be right up your street..

Hi Peter good to see you here again. I believe a young man has been arrested for starting the fire near Winter Hill which is North of us here. As said above, I went for a closer look yesterday but did not go as high as the now almost burned out fires. I did see young couple start on the path up to the top fire surrounded Chew reservoir though. I had thought that there might have been warning about going up there but no... I did not have the heart nor stamina in that heat! I have walked on some of the Welsh moorlands too and yes, it would suffer the same as this if caught alight.
I too saw, on the TV a photo (or video clip) of the full moon through the smoke and as you say it looked quite exciting. I looked from my window here and the smoke just never made it for me into the moons path... Latest.. top of moor still smouldering as I type this.
Best Wishes, Herb

Oh, it's very sad. I hope, they put out the fire soon. But the picture is great. At first I thought it was a volcano.

Thanks Susanne, they are still smouldering and I see the wind blowing smoke from the tops. The main fires are out but the peat can be on fire metres underground. I can see the comparison with a volcano now. Regards, Herb

oh, das ist ärgerlich, traurig.
I war im Yellowstone Park 91, wo immer noch so brandschäden zu sehen waren

Thank you Nira, yes Yellowstone is famous for having such fires too.

Regards, Herb

As you say a sad sight I've never been there just distant views from Lyme Park, I went to Kinver Edge today there had been a fire there in the week but there is no peat so it didn't spread to much

Thanks Peter, indeed when real Peat sets alight it is a job for it to go out as the denser parts keep smouldering just like hots coal ash. The fire-crews certainly have their jobs cut out.
Thanks for the call, Herb

The main picture and the PiP's are really great shots Herb, but the situation is dire! Fire really frightens me. I hope the poor men and women who are working so hard to keep it under control succeed soon. I also hope it doesn't affect you any more than it has already. I remember many years ago a similar thing happening on a part of Exmoor. The only good thing is that is does recover very quickly on the moors and as you have mentioned already, farmers did used to burn the stubble! All the best, Rosa.

Thanks so much Rosa. Another shot, taken just last night- a fortnight later, added to the collection. I can understand your fear of fire -it always commands respect and care. So far we have only had a few days of smokey fumes in our house but one never knows the long-term affects of that. I hope that this will recover soon but understand that, that will not be very likely.
Best Wishes my friend and keep safe, Herb

Great images, but very sorry that you had these fires, Herb. I hope they've now been stopped.

Hi again George, unfortunately, now will be twoo weeks since they started the smoke is still there and as can be seen on my latest night PiP and link the fire goes on. The long-term effects on all that is quickly becoming tragic.
Keep safe, Herb

They are amazing photos! I read about the fire but didn't realize it was that bad, Peat fires are so difficult to put out and keep smouldering underground for ages. I do hope you'll have some rain soon!

Hello Gudrun, more than two weeks now past since the start of these fires and I can still smell the smoke in my bedroom. I suspect that the embers will still be red for some weeks to come as certainly no rain forecast over the next few weeks at all. Glad you found my photos of interest.
Regards, Herb

At least I can put a visible location to you now. Herb!
But what a tragedy.
I have seen and experienced many such fires on the moors of West Penwith in Cornwall. The vegetation recovers completely in about 4-5 years but the embers can still smoulder underground for months and re-ignite without warning and the fire can get going again. The moors will need careful watching for a long time I think!
I have been following this with Colin Ashcroft. Not sure how I was unaware of your uploads!
,

Hi Andy, I thought you would have known my exact location from my many photos taken nearby by now but... Ah yes, anywhere that such moorland exist is prone to these fires but they have been rare now for some years of continual wet weather. Cornwall is still getting more rain than us presently. You are right about the omni-present reality of the whole thing re-igniting again. I still see a wisp of smoke over the tops here and smell the peat smoke in our house. Have looked up Collins gallery here.
ps - for some time I knew that I was missing out on my Ipernity acquaintances/friends new uploads and comments to me as well as replies but I now have found that I can ask for daily news from Ipernity (instead of the monthly ones I used to get) and if I scroll down, all is revealed. Of course, it helps to be retired and have time to go through all that. - .
Cheers, Herb

Thanks for the contact Herb. This is an excellent record of events. We can still smell the smoke from this fire when the wind blows from Arnfield and the Fire Service are still there in numbers. I drove to the Lake District on 30/6 and saw the Winter Hill fire at its worst as well. Thanks to Andy Rodker for linking us up