The woodland of wild Cornwall
Trust President Tony Stebbing looks back over the history of our
ancient woodland, which has declined from a position of
dominance to become a small - but extremely important - fragment
of today 's landscape.
When Britain was freed from the Ice Ages ten millennia ago,
about 60% of our islands became clothed in "wildwood", that
natural prehistoric woodland unaffected by man. But with the
coming of Neolithic peoples from France 3,500 years ago, early
forms of agriculture were brought to the South West. These
people kept sheep and cattle, and grew cereals which they could
store over winter in pots. They not only brought with them the
skills for making pottery, but could also make flint axes, using
them to fell trees for burning and clearing the wildwood for
their crops and pastures. By 1086, when the Domesday Book gave
the results of the first survey of England, the cover of
wildwood had been reduced to 20%. At the end of World War I just
4% cover remained.
The Trust's LIFE Project and the data now on
the Geographic Information System (GIS) show that the loss of
woodlands and other natural habitats continues at a rate of 4.5%
per decade. Clearly this cannot be allowed to carry on
indefinitely.
Our woodland is not merely trees: it provides a habitat for much
plant and animal life; many birds, mammals and insect species
are most abundant in woods. A mature oak is home to as many as
300 species of insect, providing the many subtle niches that
make their co-existence possible. Insects are not often high on
the conservation list, but it is important to remember that they
evolved in parallel with the flowering plants. Their beauty is
designed to attract their insect pollinators rather than appeal
to man. Some 85% of all plants are insect-pollinated, so a
significant loss of insects would take away much that we love
about the countryside. Woodland also provides a habitat for many
of the lichens which festoon the trees, indicating good air
quality in Cornwall. The bluebells and wild garlic that cove the
floors of our woods in spring and early summer are limited to
our maritime climate, and are much rarer in Europe than we
imagine. The woodland floor and fallen timber provide food and
habitat for a rich fungal flora.
Any view from the air, or a glance at an Ordnance Survey map,
reveals that the remaining tree cover in Cornwall is restricted
to small isolated woods, often marking the courses of streams
and rivers, or bordering lanes as overgrown hedgerows. The
Trust's GIS shows that 100 kilometres of Cornwall's hedges are
lost each year, and with them the wildlife that has adapted to
make hedgerows rich habitats for plant and animal life. Less
than 2% of the wildwood that grew up after the retreat of the
ice and glaciers has survived with its nature relatively
unchanged. Since much of our fauna and flora depends upon
woodland, we must do our utmost to preserve what remains. If we
can retain as much of our woodland habitat as is practicable,
the life within it will look after itself.
Tony Stebbing
Tony Stebbing is currently enjoying (we hope) his first year as
President of the Trust. As a leading marine biologist Tony has
much to offer the Trust, and he will he giving a talk on his
work at this year's AGM (26th October - see diary).
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From the conservation office