Burning Heather

They were burning the heather on the Pentland Hills above Penicuik this afternoon. It was really quite majestic and pictures (at least my pictures) don't really capture the colours that were there on the hillside. The hills were more purple and the fire quite a bit cheerier.

Heather gets overgrown and leggy. It ceases to be good cover for wildlife and the lambs get caught in it. Burning patches of heather in this manner encourages new shoots. The burning season ends on the 15th of April so that ground-nesting birds aren't threatened by the activity.