The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #164350   Message #3931732
Posted By: Iains
18-Jun-18 - 01:52 PM
Thread Name: BS: Croydon recycling will be a pain
Subject: RE: BS: Croydon recycling will be a pain
"You can't anywhere i Ireland during the nesting season"

Garden waste is such things as cut grass and prunings. It does seem rather ridiculous to ban a garden bonfire when you can keep a BBQ running 24/7
The regulations concerning the closed season of the 1st of March to 31st of August refer to burning open moorland and verge cutting, although on road safety grounds any verge cutting or pruning is allowable. In the UK burning is allowed from 1 October to 15 April in severely disadvantaged areas and 1 November to 31 March in other areas. In Scotland burning is allowed from 1st October to 15th April inclusive. In Ireland moorland vegetation is frequently too wet to burn in the time frame allowed.
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The discussion on the desirability of burning upland areas regularly is ongoing, with valid arguments from both sides. If the grazing is neglected the sheep will not thrive, If the gorse and heather is uncontrolled the nutritional value diminishes as the stems get older and hence woodier. This impacts wildlife as well as sheep. If regeneration by controlled grazing and burning is neglected the traditional moorland would be no more and eventually revert to forest on the thicker soils and scrub on the poorer soils. The uplands would be totally transformed to something approximating Killarney woods, Wistmans wood and the remnant Caledonian forest. In the early years of neglect such reversion to climax vegetation would pose a considerable fire hazard, especially around stands of mature gorse.
Even today burning areas that are "mature" poses risks of getting out of control. e.g.https://www.irishnews.com/news/2017/04/25/news/raging-gorse-fire-in-scenic-gougane-barra-valley-in-co-cork-leaves-black-landscap