Just sometimes, thatch needs fire. Controlled winter burning is an important tool in managing reed beds for thatching, to clear tangled vegetation and encourage the growth of straight, uniform stems. When not kept in check, the effect on wildlife can be devastating – as it was with the wildfire of April 2020 that destroyed a 3km stretch of reed by the River Tay. But from those charred beds something miraculous emerged: a vintage harvest of thatching reed.
Here on the Isle of Skye, I am using some of it to thatch a restored blackhouse on the north-west coast of the island. From across the Little Minch, the mountains of Harris keep watch. A pair of stonechats flick through a ruined building in the next field, surrounded by tufts of rushes (Juncus effusus). This plant was once used by Highlanders to thatch their roofs; today it has mostly now been replaced with water reed (Phragmites australis), a more durable material, which is mostly imported from abroad.
