It breaks my heart to think of things like skylarks and curlew and meadow pipits probably having to leave the nest and the fledglings to die because of these fires. They've no idea what's happening, it's a horror showHead of Communications
"They've no idea what's happening, it's a horror show"
Smoking moorland beneath Darwen Tower, July 2026
Alan Wright talks about why he's so angry and passionate about the current emergency situation happing on our upland peatlands.
This piece is taken from a transcript from BBC Radio Manchester, recorded Tuesday 14th July.
I was up on the moors last week with the dog and I was being buzzed by a curlew. Now, obviously, curlews are magnificent birds, really large birds. Again, we're so lucky to have a bird like that in our area. And it was buzzing me, so it must have had a nest nearby.
Curlew by Dave Steel
So if they had a nest two weeks ago then there must be chicks around and fledglings. All they can do is run in a fire and and it breaks my heart to think of species like skylarks, which are one of my favourite birds, and curlew and meadow pipits, probably having to leave the nest and the fledglings to die.
We lose so much wildlife.
The fact is it'll take years to get it back to what it was.
The fire in on Darwen Moor didn't spread quite as quickly as it may have, thanks to some of the restoration work but you know we need to get people's mentalities right first and ask them why are they doing stuff like this - taking barbeques up, setting off fireworks etcetera.
We've actually got people starting these fires, and we don't have a clue why they're doing it.
Those young people are going to grow up. They're going to have families. And then they're not going to be able to take the kids on the moors to hear skylarks. Because eventually, the more we damage those moorlands, we're not going to hear one of the most amazing birds you will ever hear in your life. Because these birds, the song is so amazing.
That sound of the countryside will die out.
Brown hare posing - Andrew Parkinson
We won't see butterflies looking for food, we won't see birds, we won't we won't see brown hares running around in those areas for years because they've been damaged so at the end of the day every fire they start is going to come back and haunt them in years and years to come. Their families won't have the same appreciation of the fantastic amazing wildlife we've got up on the moors. We're so lucky to have that and to actually try and destroy that, by accident or intentionally is only doing yourself harm in the end.