Wildfires pushing rare wildlife to extinction, say conservationists

Part of the rarest wildlife in the United Kingdom is “burning alive” and approaches extinction after a week or intense grass fires, warned the conservationists.

They include birds in danger of extinction such as Hen Harriers and water cap, which are now mammals in faster decline in the United Kingdom.

The National Trust said that he believed that in the ongoing forest fires in Abergwesyn Common in Powys, he had destroyed “the last” local reproduction habitat for golden jets, considered one of the most beautiful birds of the British highlands.

So far this year, 110 square miles (284 km2) or the earth has been burned by forest fires throughout the United Kingdom, an area larger than Birmingham.

The figures obtained by the BBC show that in Wales, the Fire teams have fought against almost 1,400 forest fires this year, which leads to firefighters to urge people to “act responsible” and inform any suspicious behavior to the police.

The National Trust said that 2025 was “resulting in being the worst year for these humans based throughout the country.”

“We are extremely worried, it seems that it will be the year of sausages to see that our wildlife turns on in flames,” said Ben Maccarthy, the chief of conservation of the nature of the charity.

It is believed that a dry record and unusually high temperatures in March have contributed to the fires. A low number of fires in 2024 also left more vegetation to feed them.

Coed Cadw, Woodland’s confidence in Wales, said that an “irreplaceable” area of ​​the temperate Atlantic jungle had been affected in Allt Beth near Aberystwyth, with damage to the protected bells as well.

Also known as Tropical Celtic jungle, the habitat houses few plants, lichens and fungi, and is considered more threatened than the tropical jungle.

In England, the National Trust said several thousand trees recently planted in Marsden Moor, in West Yorkshire, Had risen in flames.

While in the mountains of Morne, in Northern Ireland, the invertebrates and animals that lived on the ground as reptiles were “simply being burned alive.”

“That then falls into hunting from the food network because without the invertebrates you do not get the birds that depend on them to eat,” Maccarthy said.

He said that government funds to help farmers and land managers to restore turbuses in the highlands, to prevent fires while removing planet heater carbon and provided habitat, was essential.

Conservation couples, including wildlife trusts and the initiative for the conservation of nature, CYMRU (INCC) also expressed fears for the future of the water council, which is already under a serious threat from the loss of habitat and predation by US mouths.

Small animals such as water and musraña topillos, which live in burrows, can survive fast -movement fires, but their habitats and the foods in which they trust are destroyed.

Water Fulles is “the fastest mammal in the decrease of life” for Rob Parry of the INCC.

“Your last support point [in Wales] It is in the highlands, so when those sites are burned, it is horrible for that particular population, but from the point of view of the United Kingdom we are one step closer to the extinguction of an entire species, “he said.

The INCC is also monitoring five reproductive or lettuce couples in the Amman Valley in South Wales, where forest fires have destroyed huge habitat areas.

“A few weeks ago they had all this area to find food for their chicks and sauce, they no longer have that,” Parry said.

“I don’t know how they will face. A forest fire makes that habitat disappear during the night.”

Other rare birds are also affected, including Harriers, who have subjects to recent conservation efforts to increase their numbers in the Welsh highlands, and Skylarks, which have decreased in large quantities since the 1970s.

“We are sufficiently worried like wildlife,” said Mr. Parry.

“We are one of the most exhausted countries by the nature of the world and forest fires every spring at the time possible is a burden that wildlife and the environment simply cannot face.”

INCC has requested a closer supervision of controlled burns by farmers and better monitoring of the impact of forest fires on the environment.

GALA NATURAL RESOURCES (NRW) said forest fires were a “massive problem”, partly in southern Wales, where the Welsh government figures showed more than half or forest fires in Wales Tok Place last year.

Becky Davies, a NRW high level officer, said: “In the last three days we have 75 fires in the valleys of southern Wales.

“We have many hills that are linear, the valley side has many spare parts, many health boats, grasslands and coal and that is the type of hillside that increases the flames.”

The environmental impact of forest fires can also feel more widely.

When it rains after a fire, the freshly naked floor and the phosphates that were trapped inside it can wash it in streams and rivers, affecting the quality of the water.

Forest numbers or fires vary according to the year -on -year tank on when dry weather spells occur.

But the figures obtained by the BBC show that in South Wales, grass errors have increased by 1,200% since last year.

In northern Wales, the teams have attended 170 fires this year, and Mid Wales Fire and Rescue said he had approached 772 fires.

Forest fires are also in England and Northern Ireland compared to last year, while the Fire Service in Scotland has issued a Extreme forest fire alert Covering the whole country.

Statistics show that most forest fires are initiated by people, including accidental fires of disposable barbecues or controlled burns that are controlled.

In South Wales, firefighters go to primary schools to teach children from an early age about the devastating impact.

In PontnewyDD primary school on CWMBRAN, the staff of the Fire Service and Rescue of South Wales and the Gwent Police brought animals such as snakes, hedgehogs and foxes for children to meet.

The station manager, Mark Bowditch, said his crews saw the damage to wild life of the forest fires first hand.

“We see the death of local wildlife, we see the destruction of its habitat,” he said.

“We accept that some fires can be accidental, but the establishment of the deliberate fire is a crime and that is the message that we would like to leave.”

Additional Dylan Greene reports.