Around 10 hectares of marshland was destroyed in the Parkgate wildfire, according to the RSPB, the UK’s largest nature conservation charity.
The charity reported that all vegetation on the reedbed, which is essential for the nesting of large birds and some mammals, has been destroyed in the fire, as have large areas of vegetation on the adjacent saltmarsh. They said that there is ‘no chance’ of wildlife returning to nest in the area in coming months.
The RSPB assessed the site on Monday, and their findings agreed largely with that of aerial photography by local authorities- that 10 hectares, or around 100 square metres, of marshland was burnt in the wildfire. However, they were also able to reflect on the damage caused to the area.
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Dan Trotman, an RSPB visitor experience manager at the Dee Estuary, told the ECHO: “The most obvious impact of the destruction is on Marsh harriers. In winter the estuary attracts 15 or so marsh harriers and they roost on that reedbed all together.
“They pair up and find nesting territories on the reedbed. It’s has been a nest for a pair of marsh harriers since 2017, and that pair had started to nest-build in the last week or so.
“So we’ve also got that immediate loss of nesting or mating efforts for this year. They physically won’t be able to nest in that location this year.
“It’s hugely frustrating. When I started in 2010, Marsh harriers weren’t a bird you’d find on the Dee Estuary. You’d get the occasional bird passing through the area but over the last decade the Marsh harrier population nationwide has done really well.
“You predominantly find them in the Southeast, but from around 2013 they started to be seen quite regularly on the Dee Estuary as summer visitors. Then 2017 is when they first nested on estuary.
“I’ve seen that change over the decade. It’s a bird that means a lot to me, so it really hurt, actually, to have lost them. We might not have just lost them for this year either, in a year’s time now it still might not be suitable for Marsh harriers, and possibly even the year after that.
“Another key family of Reed warblers which migrate north and nest in reedbeds haven’t arrived yet for this year but when they do, they’ll return to their usual breeding site and find that it’s no longer there. That means they probably won’t be able to nest this Spring unless they manage to find another suitable habitat.”
“Then there is the Cetti warbler, which are quite a scarce animal, especially this far North. Their numbers have been affected previously, and again by the loss of the reedbed.
“Small mammals as well. It’s quite impossible to quantify the numbers that might have lived in the reedbed, but the whole saltmarsh as well as the reedbed is a live habitat, there could’ve been thousands of small mammals in the fire."
The wildfire has also given the charity impetus to reflect on preventative measures, and to consider what could be done to fight wildfires before the first spark has even been dropped.
Mr Trotman said: “Our job now is to raise awareness of how special the estuary is, and how special and rare reedbeds are particularly, on a national and European scale. Certain wildlife can only live in the reedbed, so when you lose a square kilometre of it it’s going to have a severe impact on wildlife for a few years at least.
“Virtually the entire reedbed has been burnt. We measured it at an estimated ten hectares.”
Yet, despite all the destruction they did find some positives, even if the pluses are the exception in their reports.
He said: “The positive part is that the ground was really wet. At ground level it’s still really saturated so the roots are hopefully still relatively intact and undamaged by the fire. So in 5 or 6 months it’ll start to regrow.
“But it’ll take 2 or 3 years at least before it’s anywhere near a mature reedbed again.”
