In the UK uplands, prescribed burning of unenclosed heath, grass and blanket bog (‘moorland’) is used to support game shooting and grazing. Burning on moorland is contentious due to its impact on peat soils, hydrology and habitat condition. There is little information on spatial and temporal patterns of burning, the overlap with soil carbon and sensitive habitats and, importantly, whether these patterns are changing. This information is required to assess the sustainability of burning and the effectiveness of new legislation. We developed a method for semi‐automated detection of burning using satellite imagery – our best performing model has a balanced accuracy of 84.9%. We identified annual burn areas in Great Britain in five burning seasons from 2017/18 to 2021/22 of 8333 to 20 974 ha (average 15 250 ha year−1). Annual extent in England in 2021/22 was 73% lower than the average of the four previous seasons. Burning was identified over carbon‐rich soils (mean 5150 ha or 34% by area of all burning annually) and on steep slopes – 915 ha across the five seasons (1.3%), contravening guidance. Burning (>1 ha) was recorded in 14% of UK protected areas (PAs) and, within these, the percentage area of moorland burned varied from 2 to 31%. In England in some years, the percentage area of moorland burned inside PAs was higher than outside, while this was not the case in Scotland. Burning in sensitive alpine habitats totalled 158 ha across the five seasons. The reduction in burned area in England in 2021/22 could relate to England‐specific legislation, introduced in May 2021, to prohibit burning on deep peat in PAs. This suggests that regulation can be effective. However, the continued overlap with sensitive features suggests that burning falls short of sustainable practices. Our method will enable repeatable re‐assessment of burning extents and overlap with ecosystem services.

中文翻译：

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英国荒原每年规定燃烧的范围以及与生态系统服务的重叠

在英国高地，规定焚烧未封闭的荒地、草地和沼泽地（“沼泽地”）用于支持狩猎和放牧。荒原上的燃烧因其对泥炭土、水文和栖息地条件的影响而备受争议。关于燃烧的空间和时间模式、与土壤碳和敏感栖息地的重叠以及重要的是这些模式是否正在变化的信息很少。需要这些信息来评估燃烧的可持续性和新立法的有效性。我们开发了一种利用卫星图像半自动检测燃烧的方法——我们性能最佳的模型的平衡准确度为 84.9%。我们确定了英国在 2017/18 至 2021/22 的五个燃烧季节中的年度燃烧面积为 8333 至 20 974 公顷（平均每年 15 250 公顷）−1）。 2021/22 年度英格兰的年度范围比前四个季节的平均水平低 73%。在富含碳的土壤（平均 5150 公顷，占每年所有燃烧面积的 34%）和陡坡上发现了燃烧——五个季节的燃烧面积为 915 公顷（1.3%），这违反了指导方针。英国 14% 的保护区 (PA) 记录了燃烧情况（>1 公顷），其中荒野燃烧面积的百分比从 2% 到 31% 不等。在英格兰，某些年份，保护区内被烧毁的沼泽面积百分比高于外部，而苏格兰的情况并非如此。五个季节敏感高山栖息地的燃烧面积总计达 158 公顷。 2021/22 年英格兰燃烧面积的减少可能与 2021 年 5 月推出的英格兰具体立法有关，该立法禁止在保护区深层泥炭上燃烧。这表明监管是有效的。然而，与敏感特征的持续重叠表明燃烧不符合可持续做法。我们的方法将能够对燃烧程度和与生态系统服务的重叠进行可重复的重新评估。