A POOLE resident has described seeing new greenery appearing on Canford Heath just three weeks after a major heath fire.

The man described the fire as 'upsetting' for residents but said it was 'lovely' to see the heathland begin to grow back.

As previously reported, an area of heathland the equivalent of 23 football pitches was devastated by a fire believed to have been started by human act.

Simon Ings said: "I live in Marshwood Avenue, so I was right next to the fire when it happened a couple of weeks ago.

"We can see the heath from the back of the house because we live in the cul de sac on Marshwood Avenue and they evacuated the road here when the fire was taking hold.

"We do a dog walk on the heath every day really, so it was obviously quite upsetting to see when it happened.

"It's been upsetting for a lot of people, obviously it's happened before and I'm an ex dorset and wiltshire fire fighter, so I've seen quite a few heath fires myself, but you feel quite territorial when you walk on there every day because it's on your doorstep, so when something happens like that, it is quite upsetting as a local resident."

Mr Ings said despite wardens saying full regrowth could take years, he has started to new plants emerge already.

He said: "Since then as we've gone up there daily, we've seen little shoots coming up in places.

"We went up there yesterday and I think because of the nice weather that we've had over the weekend, it's kind of accelerated it a little bit.

"It's just really nice to see the black, burnt part of the heath start to change, and the green coming through.

"The local heathland wardens have said it's going to take a long time, 15-20 years they reckon but seeing the heathland grass come through, it just shows you how quickly, with a little bit of rain and some sunshine it starts to regenerate itself.

"It was such a lovely sight to see yesterday with the green coming up and ferns everywhere, with the sunshine we've had, they've really taken hold in the warmer weather."