Frensham Fire.

It was a great shame that over the past week we learned of the full extent of the heath fire at Frensham, just over the Hampshire border into Surrey. A short walk around the area left me in no doubt that a great deal of damage had been done to the heathland, the flora and fauna, and of course, the wildlife which will have suffered a catastrophic blow. The Surrey and Hampshire fire and rescue services, along with teams from the countryside rangers, did their best to contain the flames....

I did get the chance to speak to one of the head rangers, during his lunch break on a very busy day for him and his team, and was told that over 150 acres of heathland had been destroyed or very badly damaged by the flames, however the seeds from the heathland plants stood a good chance of survival, and could be growing again sooner than we may think. However, the wildlife will have suffered greatly, with many rare and endangered species having taken a big hit, and may decrease in numbers quite heavily at this time in the spring and summer breeding season, with their young still too young or unable to flee the fire.

I think it will take quite a while for the heathland to recover. Not being a heathland expert i don't know what or how quickly the heath will take to regrow, or for the wildlife to re-establish itself over the coming years, some species may never return, such is the rarity of some species. I hope i am wrong.

I will endeavor to get some more information on this from the countryside rangers, however i think that they have more to do at the moment to make sure that fire doesn't flare up again in the coming days, so i will leave interviews and audio until they have some spare time to talk to me.

Paul Martin
http://www.media-attention.co.uk