A WILDLIFE charity has said that an increase in moorland burning is damaging important conservation areas.

The extent of the practice across Britain's upland areas has been mapped for the first time by the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science.

Burning on moorlands, a mixture of bog and heath habitats, is used to increase the numbers of red grouse that are available for recreational shooting.

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The charity said burning was detected in 55 per cent of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and 63 per cent of Special Protection Areas (SPAs) assessed in the study.

These sites are designated under EU legislation for their conservation importance, and governments are charged with protecting them from damage and ensuring that they are restored to the best condition.

However, many SACs and SPAs are in unfavourable condition, with burning identified by governments and statutory agencies as a primary reason for the poor status.

Dr David Douglas, Senior Conservation Scientist at RSPB Scotland, said: “Upland ecosystems are highly sensitive to burning practices. Knowing how much burning takes place and where is crucial to developing sustainable land management policies for these precious environments.”

Using aerial photography and satellite images, 45,000 one-kilometre squares were mapped across Britain and revealed that burning occurred across 8,551 of these squares.

In the ten year period covered by the study from 2001 to 2011, the number of burns recorded increased by 11 per cent each year.

In Scotland and England, a third of burning took place on deep peat soils, an important carbon store. Burning has also been linked to poor water quality in these areas, requiring large sums of money to treat the water.

Martin Harper, Director of Conservation at RSPB, has called on Governments and statutory agencies across Britain to take action to reduce burning in upland areas.

“Our uplands are amongst our most precious habitats in Britain and home to important wildlife," he said. "It’s very worrying that burning is increasing, given the damage it can cause and that it occurs in many of our conservation areas.

Director of the Moorland Association, Amanda Anderson, said: “Organisations like ourselves are doing a tremendous amount of work to protect and conserve these precious landscapes. In fact, 96 per cent are in unfavourable ‘recovering’ condition, beating government targets.

“There is always room for improvement and we can and are doing more. We are already involved with Natural England, RSPB and others, in very exciting practical action on the ground to improve the health of deep peat, such as reintroducing Sphagnum moss – the king of bog plants – where it has been lost.

“On grouse moors, thousands of kilometres of drainage ditches have been blocked up to re-wet the ground and hundreds of hectares of bare peat re-vegetated. This will all help deliver better water quality, improved carbon storage and more bog biodiversity."