(^186) an environmenTal hisTory of Wildlife in england
England, in helping farmers and landowners to increase the wildlife value
of their properties. Numerous new nature reserves have been created by
county councils, wildlife trusts and others; the quality of rivers improved,
and atmospheric pollution steadily declined. Nevertheless, six species of
flowering plant have become completely extinct in England since 1973,
while the number of farmland birds has declined catastrophically since
the 1970s.^15 Some old and familiar threats continued: in spite of the 1954
Wild Birds Protection Act, raptors like the hen harrier continued to face
persecution on some shooting estates.
It is not the purpose of this book to explore the impact of these slightly
more welcome developments which have taken place since the early 1980s.
Nor is it my remit to revisit the earlier phase of post-war intensification,
so aptly described by Rackham as ‘the years that the locust hath eaten’.^16
Others have written with more skill and knowledge on this depressing
subject. My intention has rather been to provide some historical perspective
on the real character of what are sometimes viewed as the timeless and
natural landscapes which existed in England before these profound changes
took place. In reality, as should by now be apparent, in all periods since
the advent of farming the countryside has comprised a collection of
essentially artificial environments, the extent and character of which have
been constantly changing in response to variations in population pressure,
developments in technology, and the emergence of new forms of social and
economic organization.
In 1650, the development of specialized farming regions, the widespread
enclosure of open fields, yet the survival of vast tracts of intensively managed
woodland, heathland, wetland and other ‘waste’, ensured that England
possessed a particularly rich and varied wildlife, although much of it already
comprised introduced species. But the eighteenth and early nineteenth century
witnessed a profound environmental transformation, the consequence of
rapid population growth and a transition to a fossil fuel economy. Vast
areas of non-arable habitats were destroyed and the countryside became
more homogenous, especially in lowland England. Specialist species, such
as open-country birds, lost out: and while farmland fauna in general may
have benefited from some agricultural changes, especially the new crops and
rotations, the reduction in the numbers of farmland trees, the removal or
replanting of hedges and the changes in their management were detrimental
to even the commoner species. Industrialization and urbanization may have
had limited, and arguably even beneficial effects on our flora and fauna, at
least before the middle decades of the nineteenth century, creating a range
of new habitats. But other developments in this period, especially the rise
of organized game shooting, improvements in firearms, and a rash of new
plant introductions were less positive.
The later nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries saw massive
urban expansion and a long period of agricultural depression. Surviving
areas of common land – especially the remaining areas of heath and
elle
(Elle)
#1