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WEA - the Workers' Educational Association
Wildlife & Conservation in East Anglia
10 week course
Lecturer: Fred Boot
Report by Eveline M Wyatt and Margaret Williams
This was a fascinating series, scanning time from the ice ages to the present day. It was presented with many slides, photographs, diagrams and charts (sometimes as many as 80), which opened up the topic for us in a vivid way.
The glaciations of land carved out U-shaped valleys, chiefly seen in the north of the country, and eventually the British Isles separated from Europe and the English Channel emerged. A mixed broad-leaved woodland evolved as the land dried out with the retreat of the ice sheets under warmer conditions.
These woodlands are the real woodland habitats, of which very few survive to this day. Most of our present woodlands would be described as “alien”, shaped by man with introduced species as he occupied the land some 5000 years ago, first as hunter-gatherers, and then as sedentary farmers, the land shaped to his needs. By clearing spaces in the woodlands, fields emerged for crops and meadows for grazing livestock. Coppicing controlled the trees and furnished stakes for fencing and building huts, and large trees such as oak, elm and ash, were allowed to achieve standard height to supply timber for later house building or ships.
Boundaries were needed to contain open spaces for husbandry and ditches, hedges and dry stone walling were set up. Some of these ancient boundaries can still be traced to this day. Flora of all kinds developed, both in woodland and fields. Unfortunately we have lost many of our ancient wild flowers through over-use of chemicals and poor management.
Other open spaces were lowland heaths and commons; the common lands managed for the good of villagers allowing foraging for animals.
Wetlands – rivers, ponds and man-made canals were necessary for the irrigation of crops and the watering of animals and humans. Most of Eastern England is very dry because the rains which blow in from the Atlantic are almost spent when they reach us. A lot of useful wetland has been lost through the drainage of the fens.
We discovered other amenities by digging underground. There are no great limestone areas in East Anglia, except for the chalklands on the Essex/Cambridge borders. Excavation has revealed good deposits of gravel and these are found widely in our area. When gravel is exhausted it may fill up with water and create a new wildlife habitat or, unfortunately, become an infill site for waste disposal.
As the wild spaces slowly decline because of increasing need for new towns and buildings, so it is essential to preserve our footpaths, grass verges and churchyards to continue to promote safe havens for the decreasing wild flower species.
The County Wildlife Trusts help with this preservation and interested people can volunteer to become surveyors and recorders of various designated sites. Our remaining wildlife heritage is precious. It behoves us to work for its preservation lest we lose it forever.
This course was followed by a very interesting field trip to Chafford Gorges near Dartford. Fred explained the geology of this former chalk quarry and pointed out how nature had slowly taken over after most of the chalk was extracted. Now the Gorges are managed by Essex Wildlife Trust and many orchids can now be found flourishing which, together with the areas of water and an excellent visitor centre, made for a very pleasant and instructive visit.
Workers' Educational Association, Registered office: Third Floor, 70 Clifton Street, London EC2A 4HB.
Company Limited by Guarantee, registered in England and Wales Number 2806910, and Charity Registered in England and Wales number 1112775 and in Scotland Number SC039239.
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