Wildfires Everywhere...
I'd rather not need to write about this, but I can't ignore it...
On Saturday we took a walk through Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park, one of our favourite places to visit in the city. We were very sad to see the extent of the recent wildfire, starting on 19 July, which affected Salisbury Crags. You can see some of the devastation in the photo below, though admittedly it doesn’t show up too well.
You can read more about this fire in this article in the Edinburgh Evening News, which also includes a better photo that shows more of the devastation. This was a relatively small fire, that happened close to a fire station, yet still took a few days to get it under control. It’s also the third wildfire to affect Holyrood Park in the past year, Arthur’s Seat having been hit by wildfires in August 2025 and this May.
I’d rather not write about wildfires, but I can hardly ignore it when it’s on my own doorstep! It really brings things home to you, when you see one of your own favourite places affected by wildfire. It suddenly becomes much more real than just doom laden headlines in the newspapers.
Meanwhile, up in the Cairngorms, in the Scottish Highlands, a wildfire has been burning since 15 July, devastating over 25 square kilometres of valuable wildlife habitat and having significant impacts on local people and businesses. That one is proving particularly difficult to get under control as it is burning underground.
Wildfires are burning across the world, in France, Spain, Greece and Canada to mention just a few countries. Many are burning in places that are not used to wildfires and all are made worse by the hotter, drier conditions that we’re experiencing due to climate chaos.
Some wildfires may be started by natural causes (e.g. lightning strikes) but many are, of course, caused by human carelessness (a recent wildfire in England was believed to have been started by a disposable barbecue). I’ve even heard stories of people setting up their barbecues in sight of raging wildfires! Really, disposable barbecues should be banned (there are a number of petitions to ban the sale of disposable barbecues, including this one, which you can sign if you’re in the UK).
Of course, climate chaos itself is a far bigger problem than the use of disposable barbecues, but it’s easier for individuals to stop using these unnecessary items, and to stop discarding cigarettes in the countryside than it is to get governments and businesses to move away from fossil fuels. Also, we all need to take some kind of responsibility for our actions and if by not using a barbecue out in a natural landscape we help to prevent the next wildfire than that can only be a good thing.
City of Edinburgh Council declared a climate emergency in 2019, as well as a nature emergency in 2023. Meanwhile, the Scottish Government has a Climate Change Plan that aims for the country to reach Net Zero by 2045. Is that achievable and is 2045 soon enough to avert the worst effects of climate chaos?
Bird of the Week
While walking round Arthur’s Seat, we were particularly happy to see this pair of Linnets, which we rarely see anywhere and I don’t think we’ve ever seen them in Holyrood Park before. (The Linnets were a fair distance down the hill and I’ve cropped this photo quite a bit!)
From next week, I’m thinking of changing to a Thursday morning for this Substack. So, it will be arriving in your in-box a day later.
I'd rather not have to read about it either, but it's a fact and it'd terrifying and I fear for the future. There have been several incidents in Shropshire where I now live. Our Shropshire Hills are a designated National Landscape and are very beautiful. Fortunately the fire on the Long Mynd was controlled and access to the area has been closed. It's sad for genuine walkers - but necessary to keep thoughtless, careless people away. I wonder if it's possible to close off other vulnerable areas? Or at least put notices in vulnerable places prohibiting the use of fires and barbecues.I think such moves need considering seriously.
The barbecue issue is where we come up against corporate v individual responsibility. It's not just the disposable ones- it's the whole barbecue and campfire industry and marketing of the food products and all the accessories as some kind of outdoor essentials. So much so that in one small campsite every second van must have a firepit, with a huge bag of logs, plus a gas barbecue.
All in a woodland!
Arthur's seat had sheep and cattle well within living memory and people coexisted with them quite happily. It would definitely add something to have a herd of highland "coos" moving round the park using tagging and temporary fencing if necessary. Not that this would totally prevent the fires as they have always been there, and it's usually the gorse.