(^154) an environmenTal hisTory of Wildlife in england
plantations, and lapwings on the rides between them, although not for
long. The former deserted the forests within 3 or 4 years of planting, the
latter after around 7 years. A range of other birds, less rare but nevertheless
characteristic of the heaths, likewise decreased, including skylark, meadow
pipit, stonechat and whinchat, and although the ringed plover took to
nesting on areas of nearby arable for a while it, too, soon largely deserted
afforested areas.^88 There was in turn an expansion in the numbers of the more
common farmland birds. In moorland districts the situation was similar:
birds typical of open habitats, such as the greenshank, declined markedly,
grouse and golden plover lost their nesting sites in the heather, while raptors
like the buzzard were adversely affected by the contraction in their hunting
grounds.^89 In the early stages of coniferization meadow pipits, whinchats
and reed buntings flourished, while as trees increased in size redpolls, siskins
and crossbills did well: all, indeed, have expanded their breeding ranges as
a consequence of afforestation.^90 This in turn appears to have encouraged
birds such as the merlin which feed on them, as well as on the various small
mammals which gradually colonized the plantations.
Large-scale afforestation also had a major impact on vegetation, perhaps
especially in upland areas. The dense conifers shaded out the plants beneath,
especially in the early stages of growth, and their needles blanketed the
ground, further increasing levels of soil acidity. In heathland areas heather,
gorse and other plants often survived in the rides, but many species were
lost. In Breckland, the largest afforested area in the lowlands, the rare local
flora was badly affected: spiked and fingered speedwell (Veronica spicata
and V. triphyllus) and field wormwood (Artemisia campestris) became rare,
largely although not entirely as a consequence of afforestation, although
some of the plants associated with ruderal conditions returned when areas
were eventually clear-felled.^91 Characteristic heathland lichens were also
badly affected: ‘conifers have a very poor lichen flora’.^92 But while many
of the distinctive moths, beetles and butterflies of the heathlands declined
markedly, a surprising proportion of open-ground carabids were able to
survive on trackways and rides, spreading more widely as the forest matured
and the canopy opened, and when areas were clear-felled.^93 Moreover,
certain species of beetle characteristic of coniferous woodland, unknown
in southern Britain before the plantings, now appeared, some colonizing
from Scotland, such as Phloeostiba lapponica, but others from Continental
Europe, including Plegaderus vulneratus.^94
The picture, although perhaps largely negative, is thus mixed and complex,
and this is even more true if we take a longer view, into the later twentieth
century, when the first plantings reached maturity and the Commission
itself began to pursue more ecologically sensitive policies.^95 It has thus been
suggested that the hen harrier, which had become extinct as we have seen
in mainland Britain by the end of the nineteenth century, owes its successful
return during the second half of the twentieth century to the new conifer
plantations; afforestation may also be responsible for significant increases
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