RARE birds are among the wildlife that has suffered from the forest fires, thought to be the largest in Berkshire in recent memory.

Firefighters from seven brigades are continuing to fight the blazes in Swinley Forest but road closures are expected to last for several more days.

The Environment Agency has been helping foresters from the Forestry Commission and the Crown Estate - which each own parts of the Swinley Forest - to fell trees and clear undergrowth to create new fire breaks. The forest already has some designed in and these are being widened.

The trees are mostly birch and pine, with the older - some aged up to 70-80-years-old - more likely to survive than smaller new ones put in as part of a planting effort over the past 15 years.

Nick Hazlitt, a forester from Forestry Commission, said deer should have been able to flee but some creatures may have been less lucky, including dragonflies, ground-nesting birds, adders, lizards, slow worms, frogs and toads.

Mr Hazlitt said: "It's clearly tremendously devastating. The place will recover - it's seen fires before - but in the short term, it's going to be a very different landscape and it's going to curtail some of the activities that the public enjoy and it's going to have a severe impact on some of the wildlife." The forest is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area (SPA) for three rare birds, namely Dartford warblers, woodlarks and nightjars.

RSPB spokeswoman Samantha Dawes said: "These fires could not have come at a worse time, because woodlarks and nightjars will be breeding in the area." There was a four-acre fire at California Country Park in Finchampstead on Monday and water from its lake was used to cool it. The park opened again on Tuesday.