Ghosts of species past
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During the last 200 years England has lost 421 native animal species from the British countryside, now you may be familiar with extinction, but you may be surprised to hear that England used to be home to wolves, bears, beavers, lynx, and even wild boar. These species are just a small handful of animals that no longer roam our little island, unfortunately the decline of these animals like so many in the 21st century was down to humans. Therefore using these animals as examples let’s take a walk back in time to a more wild Britain.
Wolves
It was not all that long ago that wolves used to roam the woodland and meadows of Britain, being known as a key stone species wolves are a vital in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. The removal of a dominant predator like the wolf allows the prey population to explode decreasing overall diversity in a habitat. Unfortunately English wolves were regularly the target of wolf-hunting parties, often organised by kings and queens of centuries past who would grant land to their servants if they rid the land of these remarkable creatures. The threat of wolf packs killing livestock was also a fear that only encouraged the persecution of the species, which is still a pressing threat to wolf conservation in the world today. As a result of intensive human hunting England’s wolves were extinct in England and wales at the beginning of the 16th century. In Ireland wolves managed to survive until the mid-1800s, and in Scotland they hung on until the beginning of the 18th century, but certainly by the mid-1800s they were extinct throughout the whole of the British Isles.
Bears
Bears were once common place being found from the south of Britain all way to Scotland. Britain's bears were thought to be a sub species of the European brown bear and were often hunted for fur and meat. Now you may think that’s pretty bad but when the romans invaded Britain in 43 AD it got even worse for our native bears. The romans would use these bears known to them as Caledonian bears in the famous coliseums, being forced to fight both gladiators and all manner of exotic creatures from the Roman Empire. You may be wondering why they were called Caledonian bears well, that is because Scotland to the romans was called Caledonia. The extinction of brown bears in Britain therefore was most likely caused by the over use of them as entertainment in roman arenas for sport. The romans left Britain in 410 AD upon the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons which signalled the extinction of bears in British Isles. Reports of bears in England can still be found during Victorian times but this was a result of the sport known as bear baiting, which forced bears to fight dogs to the amusement of a crowd. However British bears had been long gone by this time period, therefore bears used in bear baiting were most likely European bears shipped from overseas.
Beavers
Beavers were once a common site in Britain inhabiting lakes and streams throughout Scotland. Beavers like the wolf are a key stone species. If you’re wondering what a key stone species is, a key stone species is an animal that significantly alters the environment around them, and thus effect large numbers of other organisms. Beavers were hunted by man all way through Scotland with regular, hunts aimed at collecting valuable pelts (furs) and glandular oil (castoreum) which is found at the base of their tail. It was wrongly believed that the oils would cure headaches, you can compare it to modern medicinal medicine which use crushed tiger bone. Although there is no scientific evidence to support the idea that using beaver oils or tiger bone has any effects on human ailments. Lastly beaver fur was also a widely traded resource used for clothing or as rugs, farmers also shot them as they blamed beavers for flooding pasture used for grazing livestock. Due over hunting and the above factors the beavers became extinct by the early 16th century.
Lynx
Lynx are a solitary cat species found today throughout Europe, the Middle East and northern Asia. However the lynx used to found right the way through Britain living in the old English forest hunting deer and wild boar. Lynx are secretive cats often using stealth to ambush prey, therefore this gave the lynx an advantage over the wolf and the bear when avoiding hunting parties. However the lynx in Britain became extinct around the medieval period during the 7th century due to the destruction of its natural habitat by man. Huge sways of British woodland were cleared to make way for farms which need the land for grazing cattle or planting crops. If this wasn’t pressure enough, lynx were blamed for taking livestock which meant that farmers began shooting or trapping them. Selling on their furs for extra income to passing traders or merchants.
Wild Boar
Wild boar were once wide spread throughout the British countryside, they preferred a mixture of open grassland habitat along with patches of dense woodland. However they were hunted to extinction by man as early as the 13th or 14th century. Their meat was highly sought after by the past kings and queens of England, who used boar meat when hosting large banquets. Land owners and farmers were encouraged to shoot them by the nobility, to ensure a steady supply of meat for their elaborate feasts. The skin or tusks of male wild boar was also sold to traders or shipped overseas to encourage trade among different countries. A reintroduction programme was attempted during the 16th century by King James 1st for hunting purposes, by shipping boar from France and Germany to England. This worked in the short term however In the long term it failed as boar were thought of as pests, using their snouts to root up the farmers’ fields. Consequently the reintroduced boar were culled and became extinct in Britain for the second time by the 17th century.
Rewilding today
It’s not all doom and gloom thanks to royal zoological society of Scotland and the Scottish wildlife trust there are currently beaver reintroduction trials to bring back beavers to the Scottish countryside. This is great news the diversity of species in the habitats where beavers live as their dams create new lakes for fish and aquatic invertebrate species to live. Many waterfowl species also benefit from the habitats created by beavers increasing their food supply e.g. fish, insects. Along with increasing bio diversity of neighbouring habitats. It’s not just animals that benefit from beaver’s man can also benefit from the return of these animals. Beaver’s constant dam building increases the flood barriers protecting local farms and towns from flood damage. Less money spent on hard flood defences thanks to the beavers can be spent in sectors where it is more needed like the NHS.
Incredibly wild boar are also making a comeback in the forest of dean where their constant rooting of the ground allows the turnover of the soil. Ensuring light gets to shoots and bulbs hidden under mountains of leaf litter, even their faeces creates an influx of nutrients that go back into the forest floor increasing plant growth. Wild boar are now present in at least 2 counties in Britain being seen in Kent and Dorset, along with small populations in Scotland. The reintroduction of wolves is also on the cards in some Scottish wildlife reserves, following the massive success of reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone national park in America. Now before you make a judgement just think of the benefits wolfs in Britain will bring, wolves are clever hunters taking out the sick or old members of a herd leaving only healthy individuals. Therefore British deer herds would become smaller reducing the numbers needing to be culled every year, but also healthier reducing disease transmission from wild deer herds to domesticated farm stock such as cattle or sheep.
If wolves were present in the UK the thousands of pounds spent on deer culls every year would be considerably reduced, meaning more money could be spent on improving other sectors of British society such as the police or fire service. The numbers of deer would be reduced allowing the regrowth of many fragmented forests dotted around towns and cities. The new tree growth would reduce dead wood again reducing the chance of falling trees blocking roads in bad weather. Deer collisions would also decrease meaning that car owners could be saving money on repairs. Game farmers would see an increase in income as the woodland regenerates which creates more habitat for game birds, increasing the total number of pheasants on their land which means a higher profit.
Lynx if brought back could also reduce the distribution of prey species such as deer and boar, reducing the negative impact on farmers land. Lynx being secretive creatures would also not be seen by many people preferring to avoid man rather than stalk him. Now before you think I couldn’t live with wolves, check out the BBC programme (Animals with cameras). The remarkable film shows unique insights into wild wolves in France and how they live alongside sheep flocks free roaming the hills of France. The cameras attached to the collars of sheep dogs show how wolves do not prey on livestock when flocks are guarded by sheep dogs. Both a single wolf and a wolf pack attempted to stalk a flock of sheep in the dead of night, but were quickly seen off by the guard dogs. This means that we do not have to shoot wolves in order to prevent loss of livestock in farms, and the wolf learns not to waste energy hunting unobtainable prey. Instead feeding on natural prey species such as deer which are plentiful in this region.
Now if you are wondering where would predators like wolves or prey animals like the beaver and the boar could live, you be surprised to learn that Scotland alone has enough natural forest left for many of our long lost species. Wolves would not be able to live in the south of England or wales but we could quite easily make room for them in the north of our island home. Lynx being secretive solitary hunters could possibly live in more rural areas of the south of England, seldom coming into contact with people. Big predators such as wolves are not the monster we make them out to be if countries such as America or France can live with wolves then Britain can too. Humanity’s goals should be to strive to make the world a better place, and giving all creatures a home should be one of them. Predators and humans can live alongside one another without coming into conflict, it just takes a little bravery as Gandalf says to Bilbo in the classic film the hobbit “true courage is not knowing when to take a life but when to spare one”.
If you would like to know more about the benefits of bringing back extinct species to the UK check out these papers below on google scholar.
Marshall, K. N., Hobbs, N. T., & Cooper, D. J. (2013). Stream hydrology limits recovery of riparian ecosystems after wolf reintroduction. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 280(1756), 20122977.
Nilsen, E. B., Milner-Gulland, E. J., Schofield, L., Mysterud, A., Stenseth, N. C., & Coulson, T. (2007). Wolf reintroduction to Scotland: public attitudes and consequences for red deer management. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 274(1612), 995-1003.
Ripple, W. J., & Beschta, R. L. (2003). Wolf reintroduction, predation risk, and cottonwood recovery in Yellowstone National Park. Forest Ecology and Management, 184(1-3), 299-313.
Stringer, A. P., & Gaywood, M. J. (2016). The impacts of beavers Castor spp. on biodiversity and the ecological basis for their reintroduction to Scotland, UK. Mammal review, 46(4), 270-283.