(^166) an environmenTal hisTory of Wildlife in england
‘desert’ is, however, slightly misleading, for some gardens, roadside trees,
and pockets of derelict land were usually present even at the heart of the
greatest conurbations. Hadden’s study of 1978 recorded no less than 157
plant species within the four square kilometres of London’s W1, not only
on islands of greenery but also elsewhere, in cracks in paved surfaces for
example.^23 Indeed, distinctive communities develop in such contexts, in
conditions of severe trampling but of fertile, if compact, soil, featuring such
plants as annual meadow grass (Poa annua), procumbent pearlwort (Sagina
procumbens), greater plantain (Plantago major) and dandelion (Taraxacum
sp.).^24 Before 1950, floral diversity was often encouraged in city centres by
of the presence of factories (now often relocated to the margins of built-
up areas) processing raw materials imported from abroad. The refuse from
woollen mills – the ‘grey shoddy’ combed from the wool – was thus full of
seeds embedded in fleeces brought from Australia, Africa and South America,
many of which – like the Australian piri piri (Acaena novaezelandica) –
germinated successfully on neighbouring waste land.^25 Substantial numbers
of foreign invertebrates were also to be found in such locations, and in
general terms invertebrate faunas could be surprisingly rich, Parmenter
recording over 200 species of fly on a bomb site in Cripplegate in 1953.^26
Mammal populations in contrast were low, due in large measure to a
paucity of undisturbed sites: only rats and mice really flourished in the city
centre. But many birds adapted well to built-up conditions. The tall public,
commercial and industrial buildings erected in increasing numbers in the
second half of the nineteenth century were in architectural styles (especially
gothic, dominant from the 1860s) which featured an abundance of arches,
ledges and recesses, making them ideal places for feral pigeons. These, as
already noted, were widespread in urban areas, especially London, from
an early date but their numbers now increased steadily. They were joined
by starlings, swifts, house sparrows and – in the first half of the twentieth
century, in London – by the black redstart and the kestrel. All ‘have forsaken
their rock faces and adapted to breeding on tall buildings’.^27 Other species
flew regularly into the central areas of cities from the margins, attracted
by such things as the grain dropped outside mills near docks. The house
sparrow was the most numerous bird in inner cities by the late nineteenth
century. Hudson in the 1890s claimed it was the only bird found in significant
numbers in central London.^28 It was a general feeder and flexible in its choice
of nesting site, as well as being tolerant of disturbance. Numbers may have
peaked around 1900, for sparrows fed in particular on the dung of horses
and the sweepings from their nosebags^29 : but like all city birds, they also
benefited from the scraps intentionally proffered by the human inhabitants.
All this said, the number of birds in city centres was to some extent kept in
check by domestic and feral cats, Hudson in 1898 estimating that there were
as many as three-quarters of a million in London alone.^30
A number of particularly distinctive urban environments were emerging
by the middle decades of the twentieth century. Stamp in 1950 referred to
elle
(Elle)
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