Wildlife in depression, C.1870–1940^155in the populations of green woodpeckers.^96 The massive expansion in the
numbers of all species of deer, native and introduced, in England since the
1950s is also, in part, a consequence of the new plantations. By the end of
the nineteenth century, few deer were to be found in the wild, except in parts
of Devon and Cornwall: all were essentially animals kept in parks. Wild
populations were probably already increasing in the early twentieth century
but afforestation provided large tracts of cover where deer could proliferate,
although other factors, including the relatively undisturbed character
of the rural landscape as the mechanization of farming proceeded apace,
have certainly contributed to the current population explosion.^97 People
sometimes wonder why the recovery in deer numbers is not heralded as an
environmental ‘good news’ story. But deer are now present in woodland at
higher much densities than could be sustained naturally, reaping the rich
harvest afforded by the surrounding fields, and thus do untold damage to
woodland plants and trees, in some areas making it almost impossible to
reinstate coppicing in ancient woods.^98
protecting nature
The interest in natural history which, as we have seen, burgeoned in the
early and middle years of the nineteenth century continued into its later
decades. Darwin’s revolutionary ideas caused much disagreement among
the ranks of amateurs, and the study of the natural world became more
professionalized, with the establishment of laboratory-based biology at the
country’s universities. But popular interest remained strong. New national
societies, like the British Ornithological Union, were founded; most counties
now acquired their own Naturalists Societies; a string of county-based
studies, of flora and ornithology, were produced, such as J. E. Harting’s
Birds of Middlesex in 1866 or Alexander Clark Kennedy’s Birds of
Berkshire and Buckinghamshire of 1868.^99 ‘Nature studies’ was part of the
curriculum established by the 1870 Education Act; while the spread of
bicycles from the 1890s, and subsequently of cars and buses, allowed greater
access to the countryside for botanists and ornithologists.^100 The early
volumes of the Victoria County Histories, which appeared between 1899
and 1908, all featured sections on natural history, alongside such things
as descriptions of a county’s archaeology and extracts from Domesday
Book.^101 While rigorous amateur science continued, however, there was also
an expansion of a softer, more whimsical style of writing, exemplified by
the works of W. H. Hudson, such as Nature in Downland or A Shepherd’s
Life.^102 Bird spotting became more popular than ever and in general terms
the period saw an increasing emphasis on observing wildlife and – among a
dedicated minority – more carefully plotting its distributions and recording
its behaviour. Conversely, there was a gradual decline in collecting, especially
where this involved the killing of mammals or birds. In Allen’s words, the