Woodlands.co.uk
Coppice and wood pasture.
After the last Ice Age, plants, animals and humans moved back into the vast areas vacated by the retreating ice. Plant, and then, animal communities became established and much of the area was covered by what has been termed ‘wildwood’ – see previous Wildwood blogs. These areas would also have been home to human populations migrating from the hinterland of Europe and Doggerland. Communities developed and we may suppose that areas of forest/woodland/wild wood would have been cleared – for housing, the grazing of animals, to provide firewood/timber. Such forest / woodland would have been managed to a greater or lesser degree. Read more…
Ash dieback – what to do? Pre-empt, plant, persevere, keep calm and carry on.
The last ice age endured for about 100,000 yrs. Some 18,000 yrs ago, mammoths, sabre-toothed tiger and woolly rhino (preyed on by prehistoric man) roamed our land. Thick ice sheets lay to the North, whilst to the South was tundra – much like that now seen in Northern Siberia. Then 10,000 years later, the ice sheets started to melt and the tundra receded; sea levels rose and low lying areas were flooded. The North Sea and English Channel formed, cutting us off from mainland Europe. This was a gradual process (in our terms) and as Europe warmed, trees migrated northwards – some reaching the UK before we were cut off from the rest of Europe. Most plant colonisation was by seed and spores, animals followed bringing with them other taxa. Read more…
Spruce – an ice age survivor ?
There have been many ice ages in the history of the Earth; but the last, which covered vast tracks of the Northern Hemisphere, came to an end some nine to ten thousand years ago – when the temperature (and sea level) rose. It has always been assumed that no trees survived in the regions covered by the thick ice sheet, and that trees (like other plants) have returned to areas like Scandinavia by the gradual northern migration of species that had taken ‘sanctuary’ in warmer latitudes.
However, recently work has been undertaken by Read more…
The rabbit – an introduced species.
Whilst rabbit bones and teeth are found at various U.K. archaeological sites that date back to ‘warm’ inter-glacial periods, none have been found at Iron Age, Roman or even Anglo-Saxon sites. This suggests that the (European) rabbit did not survive the last Ice Age in the British Isles; therefore the rabbit is an introduced species (see previous blog / post).
The Romans imported domesticated rabbits but there is scant evidence that any Roman rabbits escaped to the countryside and established themselves. Apparently, there is no mention of the rabbit in the Domesday Book – which recorded most things! Read more…
Invasions and introductions…
The native community of the U.K. is limited when compared to continental Europe. The last Ice Age saw vast, thick glaciers covering much of Scotland and the Lake District, and all parts of the U.K. experienced a deep and long lasting arctic climate. Plants and animals could only repopulate the land as and when the glaciers retreated and the climate improved.
Such movement was possible whilst the U.K. was still connected to Europe (Doggerland see the blog on “Our Changing Flora” ). However, about 9500 BC, a giant flood broke through the ‘rock dam’ in the region of the Straits of Dover. The flood washed away billions of tons of material creating the English Channel and separating the U.K. from Europe. Read more…
Weather and climate ……
Books often describe our climate as being ‘mild for the latitude’. It might be difficult to believe this given the actual weather over these last few weeks. Newfoundland is similar in latitude to the British Isles, but the average temperature is some 10oC colder in winter. We are the beneficiaries of the warming effect of the North Atlantic Drift – a current that develops in the Gulf of Mexico and then flows north-east across the Atlantic. It is a part or continuation of the Gulf Stream but we are also at the mercy of the jet stream. Read more…
The Wildwood
In geological terms, our woodlands, forests, indeed most of our landscapes, are very recent. Our present countryside began to form some twelve to thirteen thousand years ago when the last Ice Age (The Devensian) came to an end. This ice age, like all the others that had preceded it, locked up massive quantities of water in ice sheets and glaciers and these covered much of Britain. Read more…
Save our plants!
The papers regularly document the loss of species and habitats in tropical ecosystems, such as the rain forests. However, we are witnessing a similar phenomenon in our own back-yards.
The landscape and flora of the British Isles has been determined by the weather, geological movements and, more recently by humans and human activity. With the retreat of the glaciers associated with the last Ice Age, the underlying land was once again exposed, Read more…