MONITORING HEATHLAND FIRES IN DORSET: PHASE 1 Report to: Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions: Wildlife and Countryside Directorate July 1999 Dr. J.S. Kirby1 & D.A.S Tantram2 1Just Ecology 2Terra Anvil Cottage, School Lane, Scaldwell, Northampton. NN6 9LD email: [email protected] web: http://www.terra.dial.pipex.com Tel/Fax: +44 (0) 1604 882 673 Monitoring Heathland Fires in Dorset Metadata tag Data source title Monitoring Heathland Fires in Dorset: Phase 1 Description Research Project report Author(s) Kirby, J.S & Tantram, D.A.S Date of publication July 1999 Commissioning organisation Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions WACD Name Richard Chapman Address Room 9/22, Tollgate House, Houlton Street, Bristol, BS2 9DJ Phone 0117 987 8570 Fax 0117 987 8119 Email [email protected] URL http://www.detr.gov.uk Implementing organisation Terra Environmental Consultancy Contact Dominic Tantram Address Anvil Cottage, School Lane, Scaldwell, Northampton, NN6 9LD Phone 01604 882 673 Fax 01604 882 673 Email [email protected] URL http://www.terra.dial.pipex.com Purpose/objectives To establish a baseline data set and to analyse these data to help target future actions Status Final report Copyright No Yes Terra standard contract conditions/DETR Research Contract conditions. Some heathland GIS data joint DETR/ITE copyright. Some maps based on Ordnance Survey Meridian digital data. With the sanction of the controller of HM Stationery Office 1999. OS Licence No. GD 272671. Crown Copyright. Constraints on use Refer to commissioning agent Data format Report Are data available digitally: No Yes Platform on which held PC Digital file formats available Report in Adobe Acrobat PDF, Project GIS in MapInfo Professional 5.5 Indicative file size 2.3 MB Supply media 3.5" Disk CD ROM DETR WACD - 2 - Phase 1 report, July 1999 Monitoring Heathland Fires in Dorset EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Lowland heathland is a rare and threatened habitat and one for which we have international responsibility. Dorset has around 6000 ha of heathland that gives it the third largest area for an English county. Much of the recent decline in heathland area has slowed in recent years but there are many concerns over quality. In Dorset in particular there has been widespread concern that repeated incidences of fire have been diminishing the resource and threatening important heathland species. In July 1998 the Council of Europe’s Bern Secretariat undertook an “on-the spot” appraisal visit to the Dorset heathlands. Part of the remit of the visit was to assess the effect that fires had on the conservation interest of the heathland, particularly those areas lying close to or within the large urban conurbation of Poole and Bournemouth where the problems were thought to be most severe. In anticipation of the Standing Committee’s recommendations the European Wildlife Division of the Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions decided to commission independent research to draw together existing records of heathland fires. The main purpose of this research was to establish a baseline data set and to analyse these data to help target future actions and produce proposals for recording future fire events. This report is a product of the research and concentrates on the collation of a reference data set and an analysis of this information. Proposals for recording future fire events are covered in the separate Phase 2 report. A large number of records of heathland fires were gathered from a variety of relevant organisations, the vast majority of these records were generated by the Dorset Fire and Rescue Service. The resulting data set contained 3333 incidents for the period 1990-1998 across Dorset. Data were analysed both statistically and spatially and results presented in terms of temporal and geographic characteristics. Data collection methods and standards varied across different organisations and there were some problems with data quality, most striking were locational errors in grid references. The results showed that uncontrolled fires can occur at any time of the year but are most frequent between April and August when, unfortunately, they are likely to cause most damage to heathland vegetation and wildlife. Fires were more likely to occur at weekends than weekdays, during school holiday periods rather than term time and during the afternoon and early evening compared to other times of the day. Fires occurred on nearly all patches of heathland over the study period with higher concentrations on heathlands within or near to conurbations. It was not possible to quantitatively assess the ecological impact fires had had upon Dorset’s heathlands due to lack of information. However, it is clear that a number of heathland sites have been subject to substantial numbers of fires and that these may have caused significant ecological disturbance and damage. DETR WACD Phase 1 report, July 1999 - 3 - Monitoring Heathland Fires in Dorset I. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A great many people have provided help with this project. First and foremost, we are grateful to Richard Chapman for expertly guiding the project and Mark Taylor, Alison Briggs and Vic Jennings for assisting him at the Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions. We also thank our collaborators, Professor Nigel Webb and Rob Rose of the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology’s Furzebrook Research Station, George Boobyer of Augur Information Systems and Mark Stevenson of the Northmoor Trust for contributions of ideas, informed comment and the tackling of specific tasks for the project. Questionnaire, fire or other data, or expert comment, was provided by many: AFV Gunnery School, Lulworth Camp (Mick Burgess); Bournemouth Borough Council (S Clarke); Christchurch Borough Council (P Holloway); Dorset County Council (Stuart Crane, Phil Sterling); Dorset Environmental Records Centre (Alison Stewart); Dorset Fire and Rescue Service (Alun Morgan, Andy Motteram); Dorset Police (Mike Humphreys, Simon Merry); Dorset Wildlife Trust (Rob Brunt, Andy Fale, Lesley Haskins); East Dorset District Council (Phil Baarda, Phil Thompson); English Nature (Andrew Nicholson); Forest Enterprise (Alison Field, Harold Gillen, Richard Mihalop); Herpetological Conservation Trust (Sandy Dolbear); Poole Borough Council (Jez Martin, Nick Woods); Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (Neil Gartshore, Nigel Symes). We are grateful to all for the kind assistance so readily provided and apologise to anyone we have unknowingly omitted. II. CONTENTS I. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................ 4 II. CONTENTS .................................................................................................................................... 4 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................ 6 2 METHODS ..................................................................................................................................... 8 2.1 DATA COLLATION.............................................................................................................................8 2.2 DATA PREPARATION........................................................................................................................10 2.3 DATA ANALYSIS..............................................................................................................................11 2.3.1 Statistical analyses................................................................................................................11 2.3.2 Geographical data ................................................................................................................12 2.3.3 Geographical analyses..........................................................................................................12 3 RESULTS...................................................................................................................................... 14 3.1 TIMING OF FIRE EVENTS ...................................................................................................................14 3.2 SPATIAL VARIATION ........................................................................................................................18 3.2.1 Statistical analyses................................................................................................................18 3.2.2 Geographical analyses..........................................................................................................20 3.3 CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF FIRE EVENTS.................................................................................................30 4 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................... 33 4.1 DATA QUALITY...............................................................................................................................33 4.2 TEMPORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FIRE RECORDS...................................................................................33 4.3 SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FIRE RECORDS.......................................................................................34 4.4 IMPACTS ON SITES AND SPECIES.........................................................................................................35 5 CONCLUSIONS ..........................................................................................................................