Major Scottish Highlands wildfire site where RSPB nature reserve was devastated sees 'green recovery shoots'
An RSPB nature reserve devastated by a wildfire that ripped through the Scottish Highlands is showing promising signs of recovery.
The wildfire began on the last weekend of May last year near Cannich, to the south-west of Inverness, and was suspected to have been started by a camping stove on the nearby Glen Affric and Kintail way.
A few weeks of sunny dry weather meant the blaze spread rapidly and covered 11sqkm - about 1,100 hectares.
Flames burned through Forest Land Scotland woodlands and to RSPB Scotland’s Corrimony nature reserve, home to species including black grouse, Scottish crossbills, crested tits and golden eagles. Conservationists said it was the worst time of year for there to be a wildfire given it was nesting season and therefore a whole generation of birds would have been lost.
Decades of woodland restoration was wiped out in minutes. The fire burned for about two weeks, with the plume of smoke visible from space.
Nine fire appliances and a helicopter were deployed, and two firefighters were injured and treated in hospital, according to the Fire Brigades Union. Neighbouring landowners, gamekeepers and residents worked round the clock to help extinguish the flames.
RSPB Scotland launched an appeal to support recovery of the land, which it said raised more than £200,000.
Now, a year on, the charity said green shoots of recovery are already starting to show.
Simon Mclaughlin, site manager at Corrimony reserve, said: “We were devastated by impacts of the wildfire, which destroyed huge amounts of the habitat here and undid decades of crucial woodland restoration. The generosity of our members, supporters and partners has enabled us to begin to recover this incredible nature reserve.
“It has been uplifting to see the positive impact we have been able to make already, from planting new trees to rebuilding important deer fencing. The support we have received from across Scotland and beyond has been essential in helping to restore Corrimony.”
He said funds raised through the appeal had helped support the costs of replanting woodlands, providing deer management and “better equipped the nature reserve against future wildfire risk”. Restoration work has also been supported by housing company Barratt Homes and rewilding charity Trees for Life.
At the time, deputy first minister Kate Forbes, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, lodged a motion of thanks to "commend the actions of everybody involved in fighting the Cannich fire, especially the firefighters and gamekeepers”.
Earlier this year, chairman of Trees for Life chairman Nigel Fraser said rewilded estates were “fundamentally unprepared” for future wildfire risk, with their increased vegetation on the ground.
In an interview in a documentary called The Last Keeper, released in April, Mr Fraser said because the land rewilded by the charity was not subject to muirburn - controlled burning of vegetation - as “we’re increasing the fuel burden on the ground”.
“There’s no way to get away from that, that’s what’s happening,” he said. “There’s more to burn on a rewilding landscape than there is on the opposite. I think it’s a fact we’re going to have more fires. We are fundamentally unprepared at the moment; unless you’re on a sporting estate, which manages a mosaic of burnt habitat for different purposes.”
Firefighters tackled an average of one wildfire every day across Scotland during spring and early summer last year. Figures show 133 incidents were reported between March and June last year, which has been graded as the busiest time of the year for fires to occur across the country.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said the largest fire it had tackled was in Strathy, close to Melvich in Sutherland in 2019, which stretched to about 80sqkm (7500 hectares).
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