To answer your questions
@NorWiscPilot @AH-1G @thetrecker
@thetrecker What looks like alien crop markings, I'm told, are actually part of a fire-break system to help prevent the spread of fire on the moor. Didn't work very well it seems.
@AH-1G Over the last week or so, Manchester City Of Trees have been planting hundreds of trees in the area and the plan is that up to 5000 trees are to be planted over the coming weeks. Unfortunately, there seems to be a minority that are out to spoil it all. There was another fire up there last weekend in an area not shown in my above video (I avoided capturing that damage). It would seem that there is a faction that would like to thwart all the good work that Friends of Crompton Moor and Manchester City Of Trees are doing to improve our countryside. This morning all that I can smell outside is the smoke coming from the now extinguished fire.
@NorWiscPilot As above. Over the years that area has been blighted by off-road motorcyclists who often succeed in getting their vehicles up on to the moor. The Secretary and volunteer rangers that I spoke to on Thursday while I was up there to take pictures were saying that some fires are set deliberately by these motorcyclists so that they can continue to scramble their bikes on the moor...it's hard to ride a motorbike through tightly packed trees.
Most, if not all, fires up there are set deliberately. The friends of the moor do their best to tackle the problems up there but I fear they are loosing the battle. I emailed the Secretary of Friend of Crompton Moor last night when I saw the fire (the fire brigade were already en-route) to tell her it was on fire (again). I imagine that they will be contacting me again in the next few days to do a survey flight to assess the damage