Northernlights

Came out door this morning to 19c strong sunshine and a strong smell of smoke with the south wind. Tracked excavator parked up in field this morning next to our local fire obviously as precaution for this coming weekend. Off to a 50 year Agri college reunion in Edzell this weekend It will be a right bunch of "moaning farmers"

Frosticle Speaking to a fireman and a head forester this week and they are not looking forward to the heat at the end of this week as we still have 30,000 acres of moor and forests still smouldering from the recent fires.Still employing excavators and a helicopter to extinguish hot spots and heat will only make the situation worse.

Came up farm road today to Fire van with flashing orange lights inspecting fire hydrant Guy from a fire station 80 miles away was checking it and marking it on a tablet. Why could that be??!! Believe it or not fire engines were racing round the countryside here on the Saturday night trying to find these fire hydrants. Can"t believe no one had ever properly recorded them in this age of GPS. Terrible planning. He told me that the fire service up here was overwhelmed with the wild fires until fire engines started to come up from Tayside 36 hours into fire and that also their lack of all terrain vehicles and water tanks was a real problem ( Hairy Celt) . He also said that without the help of all the estates and keepers with local knowledge they would not have been so able to fight the fires. He agreed with me that leaving all the warmth (Hagg) after clear felling had made the fire worse. Heard today that four big estates have lost 80% of their upland heather and grazing totalling 30000 acres . Another story doing the rounds was that the keepers were showing the fire brigade how to light back burning fires to stop the main fire. A lot still smouldering on the moors especially in the high winds two nights ago and if there is a heatwave on the way these underground fires are just going to keep going. Coolish today with a top temperature of 16c, a fresh N wind and a few showers late pm.

Hairy Celt Yes a lot of damage.Our local(2 miles away) fire was initially fought by 2 fire engines and a team from Moray Estates although it was a Cawdor wood neighbouring them. They bought flails and diggers to clear access flattening/removing fences for fire brigade and creating fire breaks. It was 24 hours before resources from the Cental Belt started to move up the A9 and by that stage the moors to the south were well alight. Leaving hagg after a clear fell has always seemed to me like an incident waiting to happen and so it proved with a huge fuel load on the ground and a lot of these clear fell areas currently still smouldering.

Roban Back in 76 I had just started farming in 75 and because we stayed a bit damper than the rest of the UK our results were fabulous and I felt bad about selling much reduced crops at sky high prices after seeing my father struggle on low prices. We had 2 acres of tatties and in 76 the profit from them paid for a mile of new fencing a new loader for the tractor and a new safety cab for oldest tractor. In 75 the same tatties(profit) did 3 miles of new fencing meaning farm was almost completely refenced out of drought increased prices for what we did manage to produce. The bank manager got up from his seat to shake my hand an unheard of event in those days. My late father had never seen prices like this and I was running the farm in the same way he had . Others in my area with about 60 acres of tatties bought neighbouring farms for cash with such huge prices. So far prices this year have not responded to the warmth and drought. We will be 20% short on forage (silage hay straw) neeps could still grow in the autumn if it gets wet. Most crops today are traded on contracts which limits price increases. Back then there were more spot trades in a free market and supply and demand operated free of constraints and so scarcity led to huge price increases. Countryside has the look of late summer with very little green left in the fields.Started feeding cattle with 2 year old silage 3 days ago as almost no regrowth in grazing fields and yet just 40 or so miles to the west they are soaking wet.

Some heavy thundery showers this afternoon.A photo of the Cairngorms online showing them white well down .Am assuming it was hail. Took a run up over the Dava this evening.Lots of devastation and large areas still smoking . Its the biggest wildfire I have seen in my life. Cooler now at 13c

Bats32 Rainfall map correlates very well with the area of wild fires in our area on south side of the Moray Firth

Norrance Yes fire nearest to us is still smouldering this morning even after about 6 hours steady rain yesterday evening

Persistant rain since 7.30pm What a relief currently 14c

Some more local photos. Bigger emergency response now Police manning toad blocks. Fire service lookng for volunteers with tractors and water tanks to congregate at Grantown town square where all cars have been asked to leave Fire service will direct these volunteers Unfortunately we appear to be in firing line now from Lochindorb fire so hoping this forecast rain comes

The most disturbing photos I have ever taken on the farm. With fresh fires reports caused by embers falling from the Ash cloud igniting in front of the advancing fire

Smore drift Everyone saying it will take weeks of rain to penetrate burning peat. Even outwith peat areas rotting stumps and roots will burn for a long time. I think they will rue the day they dumped everything behind them as they clear felled the trees and never even left firebreaks rides or roads through the piles of trimmings or hagg as it is known. So much for zero carbon!!!

Fire all round us this morning nearest one still smoulderng rain forecast later will be most welcome. The horizon fom SW to NE is a bank of smoke. Currently 20c.s

Fire to the east has reached a windfarm and is heading towards lower ground with more houses. According to local sources the Fire Brigade has mobilised resources from the whole of Scotland to fight the moor fires. Another source has seen fire engines coming up the A9. Wind direction change this evening has meant thick smoke surrounds us at 18c.

Interesting satellite photos from NASA showing the extent of the fires in this area. Fire next to us is contained with 2 crews damping down while the big ones further inland are still huge. Warm and humid at 21c but least wind has gone.