Comprehensive evidence review on effects of grouse moor burning on biodiversity, carbon & water – a report the shooting industry doesn’t seem keen to promote

Over the last few months you’ve probably noticed that the grouse-shooting industry has been ramping up its rhetoric about the so-called virtues of what it calls ‘managed burning’ on peatland/grouse moors as a way of preventing and curtailing devastating wildfires.

This onslaught in the media has been helped along by the large number of wildfires that have been reported from across the UK this year, allowing the industry to exploit public concern and persistently present its practice of torching the uplands as being the best solution to preventing wildfires.

The industry rarely, if ever, mentions that its interest in heather burning on peatland has nothing whatsoever to do with wildfire management but everything to do with providing a mosaic of vegetation (heather) structure suitable to facilitate an artificially-high number of Red Grouse that can then be shot for ‘sport’. It’s textbook gaslighting.

The only reason the grouse-shooting industry (and its supporters in the Westminster Parliament) are banging on about this issue so much at the moment is because earlier this year, the UK Government announced proposals to ban heather burning on deep peat in England & Wales to protect carbon storage, improve water quality, provide valuable habitat for wildlife, help protect communities from flooding, improve air quality in villages, towns and cities, and help deliver manifesto commitments to reach Net Zero by 2050.

The grouse-shooting industry is terrified of these new proposals – as demonstrated by the speeches of some Conservative MPs in the recent Westminster Hall debate on driven grouse shooting – because they see it as a back-door way to a ban on driven grouse shooting. The excessive number of Red Grouse needed to sustain driven grouse shooting would be impossible to maintain if grouse moor managers were no longer able to set the moors ablaze each year, and the Government’s proposals would effectively put a stop to most burning on most grouse moors in England. But rather than admit to that, the industry has instead framed its scorched earth policy as being in the public interest to prevent wildfires.

In Scotland the issue has also been in the news after the grouse shooting industry successfully lobbied the Scottish Government to delay the introduction of a licensing scheme for burning on peatland, which was due to start this month under the Wildlife Managament & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 but has now been set back until January 2026. The grouse shooting industry claimed it needed more time to prepare (see here) but in reality it looks more like a stalling tactic by the industry to try and persuade the Government to drop it altogether.

The UK Government’s proposals to extend the Heather and Grass etc. Burning (England) Regulations 2021, including a change to the definition of deep peat from 40cm depth to 30cm depth, were informed by a recent scientific report entitled, ‘An Evidence Review of the Effects of Managed Burning on Upland Peatland Biodiversity, Carbon and Water‘, published by Natural England in March 2025. [A copy of the report is available to download at the end of this blog].

This really is an exceptionally comprehensive and robust piece of work. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to be better informed about the specific effects, be they positive, negative or neutral, of ‘managed burning’ in the UK uplands, rather than rely upon the cherry-picked studies used by the grouse shooting industry to support its particular narrative. Rather tellingly, I haven’t seen any of the grouse shooting organisations promoting this wide-ranging review that’s directly applicable to the UK uplands – they seem to be more interested in highlighting obscure reports from far-flung countries that have little if any relevance here. How odd.

What I particularly liked about this report is that it goes as far as to categorise the ‘quality’ of the evidence reviewed using a transparent and systematic approach. There’s none of this, ‘We asked 50 gamekeepers what they thought and we present their responses as unbiased fact‘ that I’ve seen in a number of reports produced recently by the grouse shooting industry (I’ll blog about a few of those if I can find the time because they’re really quite hilarious).

The Natural England review also doesn’t make any recommendations – it simply summarises the evidence, tells you exactly which study is being referenced along with a ‘quality’ assessment of the research, and presents the findings in a way that anyone can see exactly which study says what and whether it’s applicable to the UK uplands. That’s really impressive.

Here is the review’s Executive Summary:

Peatland ecosystems make important contributions to biodiversity, carbon storage and water provision in the UK and globally. Many UK upland peatlands have been subject to burning for land management purposes, particularly grouse moor management, with the practice increasing over the 20th and early 21st century. Concerns about harmful impacts have led to recent changes in regulation aimed at reducing burning on peatland habitats.

The use of burning on peatlands has remained a source of debate and hence an up-to-date overview of new relevant evidence was necessary to inform future policy and practice.

This evidence review updates a review by Glaves and others (2013, NEER004). It considers evidence from 102 studies published since NEER004 relating to the effects of managed burning on upland peatland biodiversity, carbon balance, water quality and hydrology, which were selected following a comprehensive search. Findings have been compared with those from 123 studies in NEER004 to give an updated overview of the whole evidence base. Combined findings of the two reviews have been synthesised into evidence statements, with high-level highlights of key evidence statements given below.

Taken as a whole, the available evidence shows that burning alters the species composition of blanket bog and upland wet heath vegetation in at least the short to medium term. This includes a tendency for initial grass and/or sedge dominance, typically followed by an increase in heather Calluna vulgaris. This, along with changes in other species (including bryophytes) and vegetation structure can result in a move away from the characteristic vegetation of these peatland habitats. The creation of bare ground following burning has also been observed and this may persist for several years.

Many studies relating to peatland fauna focused on breeding birds, and reported various effects of burning depending on species, though it can be difficult to separate the influence of burning from that of predator control carried out as part of grouse moor management. There is also evidence of effects on other faunal groups including invertebrate communities, which are influenced by changes in vegetation and soil characteristics –caused by burning. As with vegetation, these changes may result in a move away from characteristic peatland faunal communities.

Managed burning also affects various aspects of the carbon cycle of upland peatlands, with studies showing a large proportion (76–80%) of aboveground carbon stock lost via combustion, followed by gradual re-accumulation over several decades. There is also evidence that the export of dissolved and particulate organic carbon increase after burning, but inconsistent evidence of effects on some other carbon cycle pathways including CO2 fluxes and on overall carbon balance. For water, there is evidence that burning influences various aspects of chemistry and flow, including fluvial carbon export as mentioned above. There is also evidence of increased flow in watercourses draining burned catchments, potentially impacting downstream river levels.

The severity and frequency of burning appear to affect outcomes related to vegetation, carbon and water. Meanwhile, relatively few studies investigated interactions between burning and grazing, though there was some evidence of effects on vegetation.

Regarding the relationship between burning and wildfire, there is evidence that out-of-control burns are a cause of wildfire in the UK, particularly in the uplands. There is evidence from other countries and habitats on biomass management by managed burning to reduce wildfire hazard, but limited evidence from the UK peatland context. Variation in burning extent and frequency by UK region and year was apparent, with a long-term increase followed by an indication of a recent decrease since 2016. There was also evidence that designated sites and areas of deep peat have been burned at a similar frequency as other areas.

The evidence from 102 recent studies in addition to 123 reviewed in NEER004 gives a significant volume of evidence on which to draw conclusions on the impacts of burning, and many of the evidence gaps identified in NEER004 have been filled. Though there remain some areas where evidence appears inconsistent, this may often be explained by differences in the scale, location or timing of studies.

In conclusion, the evidence base suggests that burning impacts peatlands, and the ecosystem services they provide, via multiple mechanisms, and though recovery is often observed in the short to medium term, repeated burning risks a sustained departure from the characteristic structure and function of these habitats. Overall, this is consistent with the summary and conclusions of NEER004.

ENDS

We’re still waiting for Defra to announce its decision on whether it will implement its proposals to further limit burning on peatland; its public consultation closed at the end of May 2025. The new burning season is almost upon us (1st October) so there’ll be nothing in place to stop the grouse moor pyromania again this year.

It’ll be interesting to see whether the new Defra Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds (replacing Steve Reed) and new junior Minister Dame Angela Eagle (replacing Daniel Zeichner) push this forward or kick it into the long grass.

The Natural England review can be read / downloaded here:

UPDATE 9 September 2025: More excellent news: UK government bans burning on deep peat in England (here)