fourm member

I agree. Gulls were seen on the Icelandic volcanic island of Surtsey within two weeks of its appearance from beneath the sea, and other birds were nesting there within three years.

The old saying that 'nature abhors a vacuum' is undoubtedly true. Upton Heath's recovery will proceed at its own pace, and I think the only sure thing is that the speed of recovery is unpredictable - let's check back in 25 years to see what has happened.

The farmer I used to help out after school would often burn large areas of gorse bush,some of these could easily get flames 20-50Ft depending on how dry the bush & how much wind was blowing,occasionally requiring the attendance of the fire brigade even though it was a controlled-burn.Various areas locally are often ablaze as the weather improves,last saturday evening a large area of the seashore was burning as I'd commented to my partner about the huge pall of smoke drifting seawards and there was a piece in the local paper about the fire.