Visitors to the countryside are being urged to take great care due to the heightened risk of wildfire during the continuing dry spell.

Environment, Food and Agriculture Minister Geoffrey Boot said: ’Whilst most welcome; the recent dry spell has left areas of heather and gorse tinder dry,

’This dry vegetation could easily ignite and a fire could quickly spread out of control with disastrous consequences for the local environment and bio-diversity.

’In recent days and weeks there have been a number of large scale wildfires in the Peak District National Park and the Scottish Highlands. All of these fires were believed to have been accidentally or intentionally lit.’

Here, the fire service has dealt with three incidents in the last week in which controlled fires quickly escalated.

The fire service said these types of incident are resource heavy and demanding, and its advice is to delay burning until conditions are more favourable.

Anyone who is going to have a bonfire or controlled burn should inform the Emergency Services Joint Control room on 697327 before they do so, giving the address of the area involved.

Ground nesting birds such as curlew, skylark, meadow pipits, red grouse and birds of prey such as hen harrier and short eared owls are actively nesting now and any fire could have a devastating impact.

Large swathes of the DEFA’s estate that are open to public are particularly vulnerable and include the upland heather moors, forestry plantations and areas of coastal heath such as the Ayres National Nature Reserve.