'Grim reality' as moors ravaged by wildfire could take 200 years to fully recover
manchestereveningnews.co.ukPrecious peatland decimated by a devastating wildfire six years ago could take 200 YEARS to regenerate fully, experts said today despite a survey indicating gradual signs of nature recovering.
In the scorching hot summer of 2018, an enormous fire tore through moorland above Bolton, leaving nothing living in its wake.
The Winter Hill blaze continued to rage for 41 consecutive days across an area larger than 2,500 football pitches. Conservationists today said the peatland is struggling to recover - and revealed the 'grim reality' of just how long it could take to become what it once was.
Surveying at the Smithills estate, near Bolton, has shown plants including all-important sphagnum moss are re-growing, and birds such as kestrels and skylarks have been spotted. READ MORE: Brilliant photos of Manchester's pubs as we remember them in the 1980s The site, a mosaic of grassland, farmland, moorland, woodland, wooded ravines and bog habitats, was bought in two stages by the Woodland Trust in 2015 and 2017, with plans to restore and better manage the countryside, streams and woodland for wildlife and the local community.
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