From JOHN HUNTER
“A thousand years ago, a squirrel could cross England from the Severn
through the Midlands to the Wash without setting foot on the ground”
(“Greening the heart of England”, 24 September). This ancient chestnut,
probably propagated by some early advocate of state forestry, is odd coming
from Fred Pearce, whose articles I respect highly.
Much of Midland England was already open field in 994, probably under
compulsion from Alfred and his successors. Woodland was shrinking again after
Dark Age expansion, estimated by Oliver Rackham as 15 per cent on average in
the lowlands at the time of the Domesday Survey. There were wooded commons,
but these only occurred on an extensive scale in certain areas. The squirrel
would have been forced to follow a tortuous route indeed.
If there was ever a time since the Bronze Age when a squirrel could perform
this feat, it would have been when the parliamentary enclosures reached
maturity in the first half of the last century when hedgerow timber was
nurtured as valuable property of the landlord. Possibly the squirrel could
have managed it on the eve of the last War, despite neglect, elm disease and
the odd trunk road.
This said, the article was timely and useful. An expansion of woodland on
derelict land, and land blighted by the urban fringe, seems greatly preferable
to changing upland landscapes, which we may value as they are. Personally, I
welcome the higher densities now required to give the timber trees a good
start; thinning and, hopefully, coppicing in the future will give the
diversity required by other interests if we are prepared to be patient.
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