On the upland moors in the Goyt Valley, near the Derbyshire town of Buxton, it’s possible to stand in two worlds at the same time. While one foot stands on the charred black remains of a wildfire that has destroyed approximately 160 hectares of moorland, including the nests and eggs of precious ground-nesting birds, the other foot can stand on an oasis of cotton grass with its iconic white fluffy seed heads, putting on its displays for the Spring season. Here you can see the line where teams of fire fighters held back the fire that took hold of this recently restored upland moor this month.
Since March 2025 there have been over 30 moorland fires in the Peak District and South Pennines. A prolonged sunny and dry season has seen the third warmest April since 1884 and with only half the average rainfall (Met Office) the whole of the UK remains on high alert from the danger of wildfire.
The smallest of human actions can accidentally cause a wildfire, a cigarette flicked from a passing car, dropped litter, campfires or heat from a BBQ. All can have devastating consequences for nature and people. This year Moors for the Future Partnership alongside their peers and partners are asking the public to be particularly vigilant, as the dry spell looks set to continue, and to call 999 if they see a fire on moorlands and landscapes.
As well as the physical, the emotional impact of the fire in the Goyt Valley is significant and will be long-lasting, especially for the teams who fought the fires including Derbyshire Fire Service, Cheshire Fire Service, United Utilities, land managers from the Peak District Moorland Group, the Peak District National Park Rangers, the Eastern Moors Partnership and United Utilities who provided helicopter assistance to help transport water from local reservoirs to help control the fire as quickly as possible. The team from Moors for the Future Partnership who had been working on the site to enable landscape recovery, increase biodiversity, improve natural flood management, store more water and seal in and protect the vast carbon store that the peatland holds and also local communities who know and love the Valley.
A two-year programme of works on the Goyt Valley managed by Moors for the Future Partnership ended only on 31st March 2025 under the DEFRA-funded Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme. This involved the blocking of erosion gullies that have been channelling water rapidly downstream using stone, timber and peat dams. This slows the flow of water from the moors and prevents peat being washed off site and into local drinking water supply reservoirs. The Moors for the Future Partnership team had also cut nearly 50 hectares of dense heather dominated vegetation to create a more diverse habitat structure on the moor.
Volunteers from the Peak District National Park, British Mountaineering Council and other enthusiastic groups had also played their part and joined the programme to plant sphagnum moss to help re-wet the land by holding water on the land for longer, helping to increase its resilience to wildfire, which had not yet had time to grow and establish on the upland.
The damage caused by the fire has yet to be fully assessed as the moors have still seen no rain, so the ground is covered in a thick layer of dark ash, which you can smell as you start to approach the site. However, there are pockets of hope.
First assessment of the site has revealed that amongst the charred landscape, there are areas where water has gathered on the ground due to the restoration works, and here the fire was not able to take hold completely. Pools of water sitting behind timber and peat dams still remain (as remarkably do most of the wooden dams themselves), hummocked mounds of sphagnum moss are still green and wet inside despite the high temperatures of the fire that swept over them. Some tiny plug plants of sphagnum moss still cling to the surface of the ground close to patches of wetter areas where the cotton grass is still pushing through and making itself known.
Moorland restoration is a long-term process which has a great sense of urgency now given the benefits it can deliver for both nature and climate. Moors for the Future Partnership have worked together to protect and re-wet the uplands of the Peak District and South Pennines for 22 years, taking them from the most degraded peatland in Europe, with miles and miles of exposed and eroding bare peat releasing carbon into the atmosphere, to a landscape on the trajectory to recovery. The Partnership’s science and conservation teams have worked together with land owners, land managers and funders to improve the fragile upland ecosystem and have begun to create healthy blanket bog conditions which are good for nature and good for people.
The rewards of healthy uplands are numerous, with 70% of all drinking water beginning its journey to our taps on the hills. But it faces challenges, the most pressing in times of dry weather are fires caused inadvertently by people. The Partnership’s communications team work in areas surrounding the moors to promote an understanding of our moors and encourage responsible behaviours by everyone when they’re out and about enjoying the landscape, including no campfires or barbecues. With 13.25 million visitors a year to the Peak District National Park alone it’s a big job, but necessary to protect the landscape, the biodiversity which includes rare species like the curlew and mountain hares and the hard work and dedication of the partnership of people who support and work towards a future where healthy blanket bog covers the upland peatland of the Peak District and South Pennines.
Moors for the Future Partnership, Partnership Manager Matt Scott-Campbell says, “Damaging fire events like those of recent weeks only increase the urgency with which we must act to restore and protect degraded blanket bog habitats in the face of a changing climate. It is vital that we get degraded blanket bog ecosystems onto a trajectory of recovery towards functioning peat forming conditions, where the habitats are naturally wet and can have greater resilience and adaptability to climate change. In a degraded state, during dry weather the impacts of fires such as those seen are hugely damaging. If anything positive can be taken from this unfortunate event, our restoration works had created pockets of resilience to the wildfire. These fires should be avoidable if, as a society, we decide to protect these beautiful habitats by being more conscious of the risk of wildfire, and modifying our behaviours when in the hills.”
Peak District National Park CEO Phil Mulligan says, “The healthy and restored uplands of the Peak District & Pennines are already playing a vital role in efforts to tackle the climate emergency, not just in the heart of the country but for the whole nation. That makes each and every wildfire to be tackled all the more heartbreaking, especially when so many are completely avoidable but the loss to nature, landscape recovery and conservation effort is often measured in years.
Climate change means these risks may become greater so as always I’m immensely grateful for the collaborative working of partnerships like the Fire Operations Group in the Peak District in bringing wildfires to a safe conclusion, protecting as much of these crucial habitats as possible.
“I cannot stress enough the need for care, responsibly and vigilance when visiting the countryside of our national parks. None of us want to play witness to the very picture-postcard views we cherish, being lost to fire.”