An Environmental History of Wildlife in England 1650-1950

neW roles for naTure^121

To those who plant for profit, and are thrusting every tree out of the

way to make way for their favourite, the Larch, I would utter... a

regret, that they should have selected these lovely vales for their vegetable

manufactory, when there is so much barren and irreclaimable land in the

neighbouring moors, and in other parts of these islands.^31

It is often suggested that post-medieval woods, whatever their precise
character, were and are of minimal importance in terms of nature conservation.
But judgements are as ever made difficult by the necessity of distinguishing
between the immediate state of the areas in question, and their condition as
they reached and passed maturity. Because plantations were often managed
for aesthetics as much as for their monetary value, the trees within them were
frequently retained for longer than would have been the case in traditionally
managed woods – thus providing in abundance the kinds of micro-habitat
associated with only mature or over-mature specimens. Many woods planted
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are now important local nature
reserves, such as Old Park Plantation in Church Fenton, Yorkshire or Rock
Plantation near Markfield in Nottinghamshire.
When first planted the smaller woods and belts probably benefited the
more common farmland birds, and almost certainly further encouraged –
together with the cultivation of root crops – the spread of the pigeon. But in
addition, in Yalden’s words, a number of woodland mammals ‘were saved
in time by the provision of new habitat’.^32 The red squirrel had become
relatively rare by the seventeenth century. It hardly figures in the payments
made by churchwardens for the eradication of vermin.^33 Its numbers
recovered markedly in the eighteenth century, however, and almost certainly
as a direct consequence of afforestation. Deer also benefited, although they
remained fairly rare in the wild, and the return of the red deer to Dorset at
the start of the nineteenth century was the result of deliberate re-introduction
from Scotland.^34
In certain circumstances, these new woods acquired many of the
characteristics of ancient woodland. Coppices were still sometimes
planted,^35 and might be colonized, with surprising speed, by many of the key
‘indicator species’ (dogs mercury, wood anemone, primrose and the rest), at
least where they had been planted beside ancient hedges or close to existing
woods. Such ‘pseudo-ancient woods’ can be found in many old-enclosed
districts, and many are included in Natural England’s Ancient Woodland
Inventory. Nor was the management of existing areas of ancient woodland
entirely neglected by landowners in this period, although it is noticeable
that coppice rotations often increased in length, from around 9 or 10 years
in the seventeenth century, to 13 or 14 years by the late nineteenth. This
development probably reflects an increase in the density of standard trees,
as the price of timber – and of oak bark, used for tanning leather – rose
relative to that of underwood products. The growth rate of the coppice was
thus reduced by canopy shade, as the tithe files of the 1830s sometimes