Fire damages 33 hectares at Springwatch's Wild Ken Hill

A nature reserve used by BBC Springwatch has suffered 'devastating' damage after a fire.

Dominic Buscall, manager at Wild Ken Hill in Snettisham, said the fire on Tuesday affected 33 hectares at the reserve.

The site, used as the base for BBC Springwatch, saw a 'significant' amount of wildlife destroyed.

Conservationist Chris Packham took to Twitter saying it was "global madness" and "we've got to learn from this".

Mr Buscall shared a video of the fire on Twitter at 13:24 BST before later announcing it was under control at 17:10.

Following the fire Mr Buscall shared the extent of the damage in a Twitter thread.

He said: "A significant amount of wildlife perished in the fire, in particular mammals, reptiles and amphibians, late-nesting and juv. birds. The coastal park is home to turtle doves, grasshopper warbler and many other rare birds which we hope mostly escaped."

On the extent of the damage to the coastal park he said: "The fire moved fast and therefore has not destroyed all of the taller vegetation. The ground flora is almost all gone, but we expect it to regenerate quickly."

Although the cause of the blaze is unknown, he said: "Undoubtedly climate change played some role in causing this."

"We will carry on with our work, which we feel is more important than ever," he said.

Springwatch presenters Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin shared messages of support on social media.

In an interview with the BBC Ms McCubbin said: "Wild Ken Hill is a place that we all know and love, we've got to know it really well throughout the course of Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch over the last year and a bit so it's really devastating because I've personally watched wildlife grow up and fledge there."

Mr Packham said on Twitter: "On a day of searing tragedy across the world this hit home personally. So much hard work undone by global madness."

"We've got to learn from this," he said.

On Tuesday afternoon the Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service declared a major incident due to the effects of the heatwave across the county.

On Twitter they said: "All appliances are either committed to ongoing incidents or have been alerted to a state of standby for incoming calls."

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