In May the State of Nature report was launched by a partnership of wildlife organisations, on a memorable day for me as it was my birthday. So, what was news on the state of my nation’s wildlife to greet me on my 44th birthday? Well, it wasn’t a cheery present – 60% of all wildlife declining, 31% severely. A sad reminder of what has been lost since I was a boy becoming fascinated in the natural world around me, especially birds. Common birds I took for granted in the gardens and fields have disappeared or are now present in the handful as opposed to large flocks.
In Sherwood Forest, several special species survive and it is a great place to see wildlife, but you have to go out and seek it, know where to look. Reading accounts from 100 years ago the impression is of such a greater abundance of wildlife – spotted flycatchers described as ‘very plentiful’ and accounts of how hawfinches decimated garden pea crops. I have been reading the accounts of the Victorian naturalists, Willoughby, Sterland and Carr; reading the later accounts of the Nottinghamshire Birdwatchers and Howitt’s Flora; and speaking to very knowledgeable naturalists* who have know Sherwood Forest for decades. I also have my own experiences of the last 15 years for Sherwood Forest. Below is a roll call of loss, some from decades ago, others more recent; not necessarily extinctions in every case, but the diminishing presence of species.
• Whinchat – once a common summer breeder it was already being described as local and uncommon by Dobbs in The Birds of Nottinghamshire (1975). Last bred in Sherwood in 1990s and now extinct.• Wood warbler - Whitaker writing in “Scribblings of a Hedgerow Naturalist” (1904) describes 40-50 pairs breeding in 800 acres of woodland. Gradual decline from 1970s with just a few birds and the last confirmed breeding record in 1996. Now extinct. • Glow worm – Sterland in 1896 states “with what delight have I watched on a summer’s eve the glow-worms light their lamps literally in their thousands, until almost every blade of grass and frond of fern bore its tiny beacon fire.” Today seeing a 100 in an evening would seem an exceptional feat.• Portland moth – no recent records with last definite record in 1975. First reared in Britain by the Duchess of Portland who was born at Welbeck Abbey, one of the Dukeries Estates of Sherwood Forest, and the moth was named after her (not known where she collected the larvae though). Larval foodplant is creeping willow and that has been lost from its former key site.• Fritillary butterflies – four species used to occur and now all are extinct in Sherwood. Carr describes high brown fritillary as common at Sherwood sites in late Victorian period – now a national rarity.• Bilberry – berries used to be collected to be eaten. Now only a handful of patches remain and as a friend said, “you’d be lucky to fill a punnet”.• Mire/wet heath plant species – cross-leaved heath, purple moor grass, sphagnum moss, and common cotton grass. This is now a rare habitat in Sherwood and subsequently so are the characteristic plants.
This is without detailing red squirrel (extinct from 1970s) and decline of adder (still hanging on somewhere?).
A challenge we face is recording the status of species in Sherwood Forest and making that information accessible to encourage greater public participation in recording.How did we come to this sorry state? Well, the usual suspects of land use change resulting in habitat loss; deterioration of habitat quality; and fragmentation. Climate change is also a factor affecting shifts in species’ distributions.
What next? Let’s not kid ourselves, it’s a massive challenge we face in halting declines, bringing back species and making space for species as they move with a changing climate. But we all have a part to play as we need to work in partnership to deliver conservation at a landscape scale. In her next blog, Roseanna will explain how she’s been working in partnership to tell people about the wildlife of Sherwood.
* My thanks to Sheila Wright, Macro-moth Recorder for Nottinghamshire, and Dave Wood and Peter Acton, Nottinghamshire Biological and Geological Records Centre.
Cross-leaved heath - now a notable plant in Sherwood Forest. Credit Carl Cornish