Nigel Vardy FRGS

It is with great delight that I can announce the documentary ‘Frostbitten’ is now available on @amazon Prime, @AppleTV and Adventure Sport TV. mrfrostbite.com/2025/06/04/fro…

This is why gamekeepers have been busy patrolling all weekend. Unbelievable. 📷 Courtesy of Forest of Bowland Moorland Group.

🔥 The US has put a number on what UK policy refuses to measure: $3.73 of avoided wildfire damage for every $1 spent on prescribed burning and forest thinning. A peer-reviewed study tracked 285 wildfires across 11 Western states from 2017–2023. The findings: • £2.2bn in avoided damages • 2.45m tonnes of avoided CO₂ • ~60 premature deaths averted • 22,680 tonnes less fine particulate pollution • 61,500 hectares of unburned ground Wildfires release ~83% more fine particulate than prescribed burns over the same area. The communities downwind of Saddleworth Moor in 2018 know what that means in practice. Meanwhile, Defra tightened restrictions on controlled burning without publishing a single cost-benefit figure for doing so. The default - that restriction is the cautious option - is itself unevidenced. Read more - link in replies 👇

@sibueverest And long may our adventures continue my friend..!

@NigelVardy Your spirit of never complaining, never blame, nut just get in with it is incredible. It has been a joy to travel with you and do the little we have since Indonesia 20 years ago.

27 Years ago today, I almost froze to death, but was saved by the wonderful rescue services in Alaska. My life changed beyond comprehension and I was advised to ‘get off on the sick’ for the rest of my career. I did quite the opposite..🧵

I’m not stopping yet..! What happens to you in your life shouldn’t define you. What you do with your life should…

After serious amputations and extensive skin grafting I worked for another 25 years in the electricity industry, have climbed numerous mountains, bashed through dense jungle, crossed deserts and kayaked with icebergs. I’ve set British and World Records, and

Lessons we should learn better in the UK..,

🕷️ 20 years ago, the UK recorded around 250 Lyme disease cases a year. Today, public health guidance estimates 3,000–4,000 new cases annually. GP-record studies put the figure closer to 10,000. Some estimates go as high as 45,000. Gamekeepers, farmers and moorland managers are reporting a massive, visible increase in tick numbers across northern Britain. In some spots, visitors and their dogs are stepping out of cars and finding themselves covered. Lyme is often misdiagnosed as ME, lupus, arthritis or even COVID. Untreated, it can cause neurological problems and chronic fatigue lasting decades. Red grouse exposed to tick-borne louping-ill virus can suffer mortality rates of up to 80%, and the protective vaccine is currently unavailable. Active land management - targeted grazing, bracken control, vegetation cutting and managed burning - keeps tick habitat in check. Personal vigilance does the rest. Read more - link in replies 👇

Look at these utter ignorant fools! Fly camping above the Kirkstone Pass Inn 😮🤯 It’s been reported to @WandFCouncil but who knows if anyone will head out to educate and enforce Public Space Protection Orders within a UNESCO World Heritage Site? #lakedistrict #countrysidecode My fell running pal sent me these images infuriated asking where are the rangers. Fact is such inconsiderate and irresponsible behaviour needs reporting. Hopefully, they’ll be approached with care and education. It’s a helluva tent to carry up that steep part of the fell above the Kirkstone Pass Inn! I’m sure the guests staying in the boutique accommodation holiday let by the pub will appreciate such views. I wonder if it’ll be abandoned on the fellside tomorrow? How much litter is left behind? Maybe fire pits that harm the land? 🤔🤔

💧 A puddle. Sitting beneath vegetation burned right down to the ground. That single image, taken after the recent wildfire at Appleton Common in North Yorkshire, cuts through a long-running argument. The flames travelled through the fuel, not the soil. Key takeaways: - Standing surface water did nothing to stop fire taking hold above it - Where fuel loads are heavy and tinder-dry, the ground being wet is irrelevant - Suppression worked only where firefighters intervened directly 🔥 Rewetting peat is often presented as a complete answer to wildfire risk. Appleton Common shows it isn't. Saturated ground beneath a dry, continuous canopy of vegetation will still burn - and will still spread fire. Active fuel management - prescribed burning, cutting, grazing - remains essential to keep our landscapes and the communities around them safe. Our thanks to the firefighters, gamekeepers and estate staff who tackled the blaze.

🔥 Ask any gamekeeper. The fires you can stop and the ones you can't are decided long before they start. That is the Moorland Association's case to the EFRA Committee's wildfire inquiry - drawn from members who manage around a million acres of English and Welsh upland. The shift we are asking Parliament to make is simple: stop fighting fires after they start, and reduce severity before ignition. What that means in practice, and what Defra schemes should fund: - Grazing, cutting, bracken control, rewetting and prescribed winter burning - Regional resilience plans mapped to real local risk - Firebreaks, water points and trained staff - not passive fuel accumulation - Monitoring that records why fires spread, not just hectares burned 🚒 The gamekeepers and estate teams who often reach incidents first are part of the answer - and need to be recognised as such. 📨 Add your voice before the deadline. Send your own evidence to efracom@parliament.uk by noon, Monday 18 May.

Millions of pounds. Sphagnum planted denser than anywhere else in the country. The flagship of Peak District restoration. It still burned. We walked Snake Moor after the fire earlier this month. The naturally occurring wet flushes - the ones already there, no grant required - were doing fine. They always were. The harder truth is what grows around them. Sphagnum is a brilliant medium for other plants to take root in. Grasses, heather, scrub. Year after year, the fuel load builds. Even the best-funded restoration scheme in the country needs active management running alongside it. No management, no prevention - just more fuel. 🎞️ Courtesy of the Peak District Moorland Group

🎞️ Courtesy of the Peak District Moorland Group. Many of you may have seen a recent National Trust Peak District post that highlights the role natural wet bog flushes can play during wildfire - pointing to a fire that tore through their land in April. We welcome wet flushes, natural or man-made, as part of a healthy moorland. But the narrative around them needs care. Wet bog flushes are not a reliable defence against wildfire. That April fire ripped through predominantly molinia-dominated ground and was only brought under control by multiple Fire and Rescue Services. The short clip shared with the post shows one burnt gully beside running water - framed differently, the very same footage could just as easily have been used to celebrate "green oases." This is the Snake Moor wildfire. An area of deep peat with extensive restoration interventions designed to make the site resilient to fire and protect the peat soils beneath. It still burned. Meaningful wildfire mitigation starts with fuel load management.

🪺 Still finding new nests out on the moors daily, even with so many chicks already on the ground! Locations are being recorded for the BTO. These iconic ground-nesting birds are loving the recently burnt heather. Thanks to active predator control, this remains one of the safest habitats in the UK for them to thrive. 📷 Courtesy of Northern Pennines Moorland Group

🔥 Current wildfire monitoring in the UK is dangerously flawed - leaving our moors completely vulnerable to catastrophic infernos. In 2025, 46,000 hectares burned, costing the UK £460 million. Why? Because our monitoring systems are looking at the wrong data. Models track weather, but they ignore the rapid moisture shifts in unmanaged vegetation. Heather that feels damp at breakfast can become bone-dry and explosive by lunchtime. To fix this crisis, we need two immediate changes: 📊 Honest Statistics: Myths claim 68% of fires are caused by managed burning. The reality? It’s 5-10%. Exaggerated myths distract from the real threat: overgrown landscapes. 🌍 Global Best Practice: The White House and G7 officially back controlled burning. We must stop pretending the UK is uniquely immune to the laws of fire physics. We must tap into the greatest resource available: the gamekeepers and farmers on the ground. They understand fire behaviour. It’s time to move away from top-down bureaucracy and treat these rural workers as the frontline conservationists they are. Read more on our website.

💧 Hillsides scarred by summer wildfires don't just lose their biodiversity - they become prime triggers for severe winter flooding. A groundbreaking new study has proven what upland managers have long warned: post-wildfire flood peaks can be up to 39 times larger than pre-fire floods. When unmanaged vegetation fuels a catastrophic blaze, the intense heat damages the soil. The resulting loose ash and sediment create a dangerous 'first flush' effect. The data reveals a stark reality: 🌧️ The flooding isn't caused by extreme weather - ordinary, common storms are triggering these massive floods because the land has been compromised. 📉 Catchment-wide burns create the most severe downstream dangers. 🚜 Controlled winter burning DOES NOT cause this - catastrophic summer wildfires do. Active moorland management prevents massive, uncontrollable infernos that strip our hillsides bare. By managing fuel loads, we aren't just saving nesting birds - we are protecting downstream communities from devastating floods. Read more on our website.