The anti shooting fraternity claim that burning increases flooding, releases carbon from the peat and destroys vegetation. This is all part of their larger scale plan to ban grouse shooting one step at a time. Burning not only provides a varied habitat that allows different plant species to thrive, but the practice of cool burn also means that the top layer of rank heather is burnt away and the underlying peat is left untouched, crucially leaving the carbon locked away in the peat. The same cannot be said of wildfires that have occurred over recent years on moors such as Saddleworth and Ilkley where the practice of muirburn doesn't occur. The additional fire load on these moors meant that the ferocity of these wild fires was exacerbated and eventually lit the peat on fire, releasing thousands of tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. The freshly burnt patches create a mosaic of different habitats that provide food for the grouse and nesting spaces for endangered waders such as lapwing and curlew, which actually preferentially chose to nest in these open burns so they can see all around for predators. Ban Bloodsports on Yorkshire moors and the other 'conservation' charities would see our uplands to burnt ruins of their former glory if it meant they could ban grouse shooting. This is not a war of facts, this is a direct attack on fieldsports for self gain.