Farming Today

08/08/25 Heather burning and wildfires, cherry harvest, green road bridge for wildlife.


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Scottish gamekeepers may refuse to help tackle wildfires in a dispute over licences for muirburn. Muirburn is the controlled burning of heather and other vegetation to encourage new growth, mostly to raise game birds for shooting. It takes place from autumn to spring, but from January next year it will be licensed and it will be an offence to carry out any burning without a licence. Gamekeepers say controlled burning reduces the amount of dead vegetation which fuels wildfires and if they can't do it, they say tackling future wildfires will become too dangerous.

All week we've been following the harvest. It started early for many and one of the country's largest cherry growers in Herefordshire says warmer winters and summers are shortening the growing season.

Britain's newest and largest Green Bridge is under construction in the Cotswolds as part of a half billion-pound road building scheme. When it's completed at the end of the year, the bridge won't be tarmacked - instead it'll be planted with grasses, wildflowers and shrubs designed to create a crossing for wildlife, and walkers over a new eight lane highway near Cheltenham.

Presenter = Charlotte Smith

Producer = Rebecca Rooney

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