My phone pic from the plane makes National Press!

My flight back from Shetland on Monday was amazing, as there was no cloud at all for the whole journey from Inverness to Manchester. I had amazing views as we flew over Scotland, the Lake District and then toward Manchester. As we began to descend toward Manchester airport, I could see a he plume of smoke. As it was on top of a hill, it looked almost volcanic! As we got closer, I could see that it was a fire on, what I presumed was , a moor. I took a couple of pictures on my phone, through the window and didn’t really think any more about it.

When I returned from work, the following day, I then saw all the footage of the huge moor fire on Saddleworth Moor and I then realised what I had photographed. I uploaded the images and sent them to a press agent, who I sometimes send wildlife images to. They agency then pushes the images out to the papers, if they feel they are suitable. By mid morning on Wed, the images were in many of the online papers and on Thursday morning I received an email to say that they had appeared in numerous printed press.

It is ironic that, out of all my images, a quick pic, through a plane window, has been the image that has made the most papers! 

These fires will have a devastating impact on this precious habitat.  At this time of year, there will be many ground nesting birds that will have young and eggs destroyed, not to mention the other flora and fauna present. My thoughts also go to all those who have fought to get this blaze under control.