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A huge gorse fire in County Down which led to the evacuation of homes in the vicinity of the Mourne Mountains is believed to have been started deliberately.

It follows a large gorse fire on the mountain on Monday, and two other blazes in the area last week, one near Silent Valley and another near Castlewellan, in County Down.

In May, one blaze saw the A85 in Argyll close after it set alight 500 square metres of grass and gorse.

Ross, 36, drove from his home in Fife and tracked down the location, hundreds of metres down an old track which was overgrown with gorse.

There is little diversity on the majority of the 146-acre land, with nearly all fields grazed by sheep, but there are some wetter areas and some hedgerows of blackthorn, hawthorn, hazel, oak, gorse and holly.