Heathland fire damage is 'heartbreaking'

A heathland fire on the Isle of Wight has caused "heartbreaking" damage.

The blaze in Headon Warren raged for five days before being fully extinguished on Monday, leaving behind about nine hectares (22.2 acres) of burnt land.

The National Trust previously said the land would take time to recover and its countryside manager Paul Davies said wildlife had been affected.

BBC South's environment correspondent Jon Cuthill discussed the impact with James Osman, from Warren Farm, when he returned to the site on Tuesday.

Cuthill, who is also a retained firefighter, said he had been among the crews called on Thursday night.

"Going back, I realised where I was I saw the full extent of what had happened," he said.

"Because when we were there it was darkness and you've got this landscape now of twisted, almost skeletal remains of gorse."

He described the "blackened" and "sooty" site as "so depressing" for residents, visitors and conservationists.

"It's nationally important this heathland and it's gone in the blink of an eye," he added.

At the height of the blaze, a helicopter was brought in to drop sea water on inaccessible areas and fire engines were ferried from the mainland.

Cuthill said although the smoke was gone, a fire service Land Rover had still been checking for hotspots on Tuesday.

"Warren Farm is just behind that ridge and they're responsible for managing that land, so they've been working hard to try and get it back to prime habitat," Cuthill said.

Osman said seeing the burnt land was "quite heartbreaking".

"We are lucky in a way that it was restricted to the area it was and the fire crews did an incredible job of stopping it going further," he said.

"We've lost a large amount of habitat but we've managed to keep quite a lot too."

Posting a video online of the discovery, the fire service described it as a "reminder of how quickly a small fire can spread".

Davies said they had seen a nightjar "flashing out" of a heather at the west section of the fire.

"That was probably on eggs or chicks," he said.

"We know that it is likely that many pairs of birds associated with heathland were lost and certainly their nests were lost during this fire."

The cause is still unknown but Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service firefighters found the remains of a campfire during the incident.