Blogger: Gena Correale-Wardle, Community Fundraising Officer
I am currently reading Watership Down by Richard Adams, a book that was first published nearly 40 years ago and which many of my peers remember as being a cult film when they were growing up. I, however, never saw the film or read the book when I was younger so it’s all new to me (please don’t spoil the ending!).
The book tells of the trials and tribulations of a small colony of wild rabbits on the South Downs and the challenges they face to stay alive.
The most amazing thing I’ve noticed whilst reading the book is just how different the portrayal of birds in the countryside is from when the book was written in 1972, to how it is today.
Take this passage:
“Once Acorn [a rabbit] put up a plover, which flew round them calling shrilly, until at length, they crossed a bank and left it behind. Soon after, somewhere near them, they heard the unceasing bubbling of a nightjar – a peaceful sound without menace, which died gradually away as they pushed on. And once they heard a corncrake calling as it crept among the long grass of a path verge. (It makes the sounds of a human fingernail drawn down the edge of a comb).”
Green plovers (more commonly known as lapwing) - red listed as a bird of conservation concern.
Nightjars – a red listed species due to contraction of breeding range.
Corncrakes – virtually extinct in England, these birds have had a historical population decline and are red listed.
And it’s not just these three birds in this part of the country. Nature is being lost at all levels: global, regional and local. In just 40 years there has been a 40% decline in the average abundance of species. We cannot afford to lose any more.
It’s certainly made me sit up and take notice.
Hazel the rabbit and his friends might have been able to find a new life for themselves on the Downs back in the 70s, but our birds and other wildlife aren’t finding it so easy anymore. We really need to do something before future generations reading this book don’t recognise any of the species in it because they are no longer there for them to enjoy.
If you are interested in helping to keep our countryside alive, please click on the link below and make sure that laws that protect it aren’t threatened in new government action. http://campaigning.rspb.org.uk/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=13&ea.campaign.id=10410
Photo credit: Young rabbit by Ben Hall (rspb-images.com) and artist impression of South Downs by Mike Langman (rspb-images.com)