Images of Canford Heath Title

On the 19th March 2006 there was an enormous heath fire that decimated 100 hectares of my very favourite Canford Heath. What remained was a charred and blackened area that experts said would take 25 years to regenerate. Having experienced such fires before I thought this very exaggerated, and I was proved correct. These are pictures I took today, 13th September 2006, only a few months since the fire, and they show to what extent the heathland has regenerated. ... I hope that now the flora has returned, the fauna will follow...


image of the heather regeneration
Image of new regenerated gorse and heather after heath fire.
It is clear to see how quickly the heather has grown and flowered in the singed and blackened earth, with new growth of gorse amongst the burnt stems of old plants.

Here the heather has grown in abundance through more charred gorse stems. The colour seems more vibrant than usual. The area beyond has been untouched and remains green and verdant.

Image of new flowering heather and burnt remains of old plants
Image showing scorched earth and new growth, with the untouched heath in the background

This picture shown quite clearly the sparse black earth and yet the gorse grows again among new heather plants and the tall stems of attractive grasses. One poor litte dead tree stands alone, never to glow with Christmas lights or decorations.

Even more stark incinerated stems of more gorse. This area has not grown so rapidly, but I can imagine that in another year this whole area will show very little sign of the intensity of the fire that destroyed so much of the Heath ...

Image of the beginnings of new growth of gorse and grasses.
Image of charred remains of young trees with the new grasses growing tall, with the bracken

More dead trees, seared and sad...but the grasses and all the other indigenous plants appear to be growing again with new vigour.

Image burned trees but new regenerated growth of bracken, heather and gorse.
Picture of Pickles and Angus leading the way through the heath

From all of these pictures it is obvious that despite what some experts have said, the Heath is healing itself, in an amazing way, and has become the heath that any conservationist would delight in. This could not be more encouraging, and is now showing results, normally achieved when the fires have been part of a controlled burn, a method used widely in order to bring about such regeneration. I apologise for the rather blurry pictures, all taken from much larger images. I added the last view to show you who takes the lead when we all go walking on the Heath..by the way the little white fellow is Angus.

Image of new foals now 5months old
Image of new foals ....5 months after birth

The images above show just how much the new foals have grown in the 5 months since they were born, both Mares are looking very much as if they could be pregnant again which means that in April next year we might just see some more just like them. As you can see they look healthy and well fed, in fact they are thriving on the diet that the Heath provides...

An image of the reflections in the lake on the Heath, late Sept.

Just added this picture of the large lake that is always the first place that Pickles heads for when she arrives on the Heath. I thought the reflections of the trees and clouds in the lake worth a look....a quick swim and she is ready to take off and enjoy the many miles of heathland that she has come to love.....

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Created on ... September 14th, 2006....Updated September 29th, 2006