BBC Wildlife - UK (2020-05)

100 BBC Wildlife M y 20

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Marvelousmosses

Wanttogetsomething

oyourchest?Thisis

theidealplace

Fe e d b ack

We in the West have nothing

to be proud of, as our use and

destruction of resources has

caused so many problems.

Instead of going on about global

warming, which many believe

has nothing to do with us and

is just the Earth doing its own

thing (personally I think we

have caused some of it) we

should be looking at curbing the

growth of our own population.

Oliver Craig, Edinburgh

Planting trees

I was extremely pleased to see

Richard Mabey’s timely and

very relevant piece about tree

planting (February 2020). As

always, my friend Richard has

hit the nail on the head.

When I was writing the Flora

of Hertfordshire, to which he

refers, I had spent years, as

a county ecologist, trying to

stop people messing up highly

important remnant scraps of

ancient grassland, wetlands,

chalk downland, heath and

the like by tree planting,

‘landscaping’, re-seeding,

fertilising unnecessarily or

whatever (let alone the blatant

use of such areas as convenient

places to build on or put roads

through). So, to find so many

groups jumping gaily on this

new bandwagon, after all the

ballyhoo of ‘Plant a Tree in 73’,

development of poor countries.

This will unleash increased

access to education and

affordable healthcare (including

family planning), empowering

these girls economically. There

are no easy solutions, but the

world has to find answers.

Dr Manyando Milupi, Doncaster

Mark Carwardine’s article on

the human populations’ growth

was very thought provoking.

In the 1970s, the dangers of

overpopulation were raised and

many forecasts

then have

proven correct.

The problem

in Africa

and other

developing

countries is that

war, drought,

hunger and

disease have

exacerbated so

much misery.

Too quick to cull?

I am surprised to read that these

so-called conservationists plan

to cull the beautiful American

mink (Wild News, February

2020). Why not gather them

all and place them in a special

environment where they can

continue to live like all other

animal species?

Why are humans so bent on

destroying what they cannot

create. I suggest that to save

this planet, we should start

with culling the human race

down 6 billion out of 7 billion.

This statement of mine is more

direct compared to Sir David

Attenborough’s comments in

one of his documentaries.

Jan Anthonisz, via email

Human population

How refreshing to read

Mark’s column on human

overpopulation (My Way of

Thinking, February 2020). It is

regrettable that previous clumsy

attempts at population control

have tarnished the strategy as

you described. I share your

frustration at the failure of

world politicians to tackle this

issue. You are not alone in your

views and we need to make the

debate rational, so the solution

of population control becomes

an acceptable strategy.

Gabriella Parkes, via email

Mark is spot-on about

Africa ‘being the cradle of

overpopulation’, partly driven

by child marriages. There exists

a belief that more children

mean more help for poor

parents, if their children became

economically successful. With

Sub-Saharan Africa’s high infant

and under-fives mortality rates,

some people believe that having

many children is an insurance,

in case they lose some.

The solution, albeit

controversial, is for the richer

world to invest in economic

The first day of real lockdown, 24 March

• time to get into the sunshine and re-pot
  the plants on our little roof terrace. I start
  byremoving the turf of moss that has
  accumulated on a pot of lily of
  thevalley. I put the turf to one
  side, then look again – it
  contains several different
  mosses and a liverwort.
  I’m nearing the end
  of a distance-learning
  course on bryophyte
  identification, so I
  separate the various
  species and settle down
  with my field guide and
  microscope. Some I am
  familiar with, others are new
  to me. One has a transparent

calyptra, like a bride’s veil, covering its

still-forming capsules. Even the liverwort,

a pest in plant nurseries, has delicate

teeth on the cups containing its gemmae.

For most of my life, I have overlooked

mosses, enjoying their green lushness in

winter but otherwise not giving them a

second thought. Yet hundreds of species

grow in Britain and they are so varied in

their appearance and structure, especially

when seen through a hand lens or under

a microscope. How I wish I had started

studying them when I was younger and

had better eyesight.

That one flowerpot was home to seven

different species of moss. Take a closer

look – they are beautiful and they are all

around you!

Ta m s i n Ca n d e l a n d , v i a e m a i l

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Closer inspection:

mosses are truly

fascinating.

Do man-made

forests benefit

us and nature?