Unnatural England: The Destruction of Flora and Fauna
http://figment.com/books/664462-The-Destruction-of-Flora-and-Fauna
Great Britain is a small island, no more that 600 miles on its longest north/south axis from John O’Groats in Scotland to Lands End in Cornwall. Yet it has the most diverse geology, layer after layer of it laid down over the millennia. In other countries one might travel for 200 miles or even much more before the scenery changes in any way. Here 20 miles will do it, and the most obvious sign is what the old houses are built of. In Dorset where I live the cottages were built in chalk clunch or a mixture of flint and brick. 15 miles to the north and over the border in Somerset, the traditional building material is Hamstone. Travel another 15-20 miles and the houses are built in Blue Lias.
It follows that there is a huge variety of soils with their accompanying flora and fauna, an abundant and joyful cornucopia of life. Or there was. Last month the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) published a report, State of Nature. 25 British organisations, dedicated to the study, conservation and preservation of all forms of life found here, pooled their information and expertise to produce this report on how nature is faring in this busy world of men. It makes grim reading. 60% of species, from the smallest insect or humble lichen to the large mammals and birds of prey, are in decline, some seriously so. 60%. And I feel impoverished.
But while people who care about these things work hard to protect and conserve, little help is forthcoming from those who govern us. Occasionally they get things right. In March Natural England, described by the Independent as “the Government’s wildlife watchdog”, took action to protect one of the most important breeding sites for nightingales by designating Lodge Hill in Kent as an SSSI. Oh dear. Medway Council wanted to build up to 5000 homes here and were furious that a mere bird should take precedence over money (the scheme was reported to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds).
Our nightingale population has declined by more than 90% in the last 40 years, and they need all the help they can get. They are migratory birds and, like salmon that come back to the river where they were spawned, always return to the same breeding sites. The planners suggested that another site was provided. Do they seriously believe that nightingales can read planning notices saying “Please re-locate to….”? No. Nightingales cannot be judged in terms of money, planning applications and human interests. And sometimes we need them more than new houses.
One of the few truly magical things that came out of World War II was the 1942 recording of a nightingale singing its heart out in a Surrey wood while Wellington and Lancaster bombers flew overhead on a bombing raid to Germany. Even today, 70 years later, it has the power to lift one’s heart. I lived in Surrey many years ago and I used to complain of being kept awake by nightingales singing outside my window in the middle of the night. Now my chances of ever again hearing, let alone complaining about something so beautiful are fast disappearing.
It seems that money and business will always, where the powerful are concerned, come before all the other forms of life that make living in this island so spiritually rich. Take badgers. While I am made whole by the nightly visit to my garden from the nearby sett of a badger digging for beetles,with my cats watching from their perches in the cherry tree, the government thinks they should be shot. For we have entered June and the badger cull is now in operation, politicians believing the only way to address the problem of our milk herds being infected with bovine TB is to kill badgers.
We all accept that badgers carry bovine TB, but have you ever wondered where the badgers got their bovine TB from? Could it be something to do with our animal husbandry, that wildlife should become infected? Because it is not only badgers. Deer, foxes, rats and other animals are also carriers. Is there a call for all these to be culled as well? No. We thought we had halted the cull last year, such was the public outcry, but the government only retreated as far as “more consultation and research”. And their research is neither exact nor reliable.
