Recent fires across the UK have destroyed habitats in nature reserves, farmland and countryside, threatening plants, insects, birds and mammals and undoing years of conservation work. Restoration is possible, but conservationists warn that recovery can take years or decades and will require careful intervention as hotter, drier conditions increase fire risks.

At Portway Hill in the West Midlands, a fire damaged meadow habitat used by rare orchids and marbled white butterflies, while Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service attended about 600 outdoor fires in July, roughly twice last year’s total. Other major fires have burned 150 hectares at Dunwich Heath in Suffolk and about 26 sq km in the Cairngorms, killing wildlife and damaging protected landscapes; some recent fires are believed to have been deliberate.