†9 Some of them arise from Derek Ratcliffe’s famous Nature Conservation Review in 1977, which identified semi-natural sites that he considered important for conservation.
*10 Between 1984 and 2011. At the top of Glaslyn’s plan is a list of the eight birds for which the reserve is considered ‘very important’.26 One of these, the short-eared owl, did not appear in either the 1984 or 2011 surveys. One other, the hen harrier, rose by a single nesting pair: none were seen in 1984; one was spotted in 2011. One pair of peregrines was seen in both cases. The rest were in freefall. Red grouse, skylark and wheatear had all declined by around 50 per cent. The golden plovers seen in 2011 had fallen by 92 per cent. Ring ouzels were not found by the second survey at all. The report notes that ‘large scale declines across nearly all the species that occur on the site were recorded’.27
*11 This roughly speaking, is the approach of the celebrated report by Sir John Lawton.
*12 There are two references to horse remains beyond this date in the archaeological record. One, found in Kent and held by the Harrison Institute, is sometimes described as being 8,000 years old. I checked with the institute: it appears that some people had confused BC (Before Christ) with bp (Before Present). This institute tells me it has been carbon-dated at around 9,760 years old. The other, a single tooth, was found in a Neolithic tomb at Hazleton in Gloucestershire, which is some 5,700 years old. In correspondence with myself and the biologist Clive Hambler, Robert Hedges, one of the archaeologists who analysed the contents of the burial site, explains that the tooth itself is undated and the notion that it originated at the same time as the tomb is ‘an unsupported possibility only’. It is possible that it was found and carried into the tomb by Neolithic people. If horses had survived that long in Britain, one would expect to see a good deal more fossil evidence, before they returned in domesticated form, later in the Neolithic.
*13 Hambler and Canney argue that rewilding protects a greater number of threatened species than any other approach.38
1. Noticeboard at the entrance of the reserve.
2. Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, 2009, Glaslyn Management Plan 2009–2014.
3. Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, 2010, The Pumlumon Project. Two Year Progress Report 2008–2010, http://www.montwt.co.uk/images/user/Pumlumon%20progress%20report%202010.pdf
4. Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, 2009. Glaslyn Management Plan 2009–2014.
5. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, 2004, Common Standards Monitoring: Introduction to the Guidance Manual, http://jnce.defra.gov.uk/pdf/CSM_introduction.pdf
6. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, 2009, Common Standards Monitoring Guidance for Upland Habitats, http://jnce.defra.gov.uk/pdf/CSM_Upland_jul_09.pdf
7. The European Habitats Directive, 21 May 1992, ‘Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora’, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri-CELEX:31992L0043:EN:HTML
8. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, 2012, UK Interest Features, http://jnce.defra.gov.uk/Publications/JNCC312/UK_habitat_list.asp
9. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, 2007, Species and Habitats Review, http://jnce.defra.gov.uk/PDF/UKBAP_Species+HabitatsReview-2007.pdf
10. British Trust for Ornithology and Joint Nature Conservation Committee, 2012, ‘Red Grouse’, http://www.bto.org/birdtrends2010/wcrredgr.shtml; British Trust for Ornithology and Joint Nature Conservation Committee, 2012, ‘Skylark’, http://www.bto.org/birdtrends2004/wcrskyla.htm; British Trust for Ornithology and Joint Nature Conservation Committee, 2012, ‘Wheatear’, http://www.bto.org/birdtrends2010/wcrwheat.shtml; British Trust for Ornithology, 2012, ‘Ring Ouzel’, http://blx1.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob11860.htm
11. Patrick Barkham, 14 September 2011, ‘Record numbers of golden eagles poisoned in Scotland in 2010’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/14/golden-eagles-poisoned-scotland-rspb
12. Severin Carrell, 27 May 2011, ‘Gamekeeper with huge cache of bird poison fined £3,300’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/may/27/gamekeeper-banned-pesticide-fined
13. Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, no date given, Newsletter, http://www.montwt.co.uk/newsletter/grouse%20count%20detail%20article%20final.htm
14. Estelle Bailey, Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, 17 June 2011, by email.
15. Powys County Council, 2011, Upland and Lowland Heath Action Plan, http://www.powys.gov.uk/uploads/media/upland_lowland_heath_bi.pdf
16. Frans Vera, 2000, Grazing Ecology and Forest History, CABI Publishing, Wallingford.
17. J. H. B. Birks, 2005, ‘Mind the gap: how open were European primeval forests?’, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, vol. 20, pp. 154–6; R. Fyfe, 2007, ‘The importance of local-scale openness within regions dominated by closed woodland’, Journal of Quaternary Science, vol. 22, no. 6, pp. 571–8, doi: 10.1002/jqs.1078.
18. Oliver Rackham, 2003, Ancient Woodland: Its History, Vegetation and Uses in England, Castlepoint Press, Dalbeattie. Cited in Kathy H. Hodder et al, 2009, ‘Can the pre-Neolithic provide suitable models for re-wilding the landscape in Britain?’, British Wildlife, vol. 20, no. 5 (special supplement), pp. 4–15.
19. N. J. Whitehouse and D. Smith, 2010, ‘How fragmented was the British Holocene wildwood? Perspectives on the “Vera” grazing debate from the fossil beetle record’, Quaternary Science Reviews, vol, 29, nos. 3–4, pp. 539–53, doi.org/10/1016/j/quascirev. 2009.10.010.
20. J. C. Svenning, 2002, ‘A review of natural vegetation openness in northwestern Europe’, Biological Conservation, vol. 104, pp. 133–48.
21. R. H. W. Bradshaw, G. E. Hannon and A. M. Lister, 2003, ‘A long-term perspective on ungulate-vegetation interactions’, Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 181, pp. 267–80.
22. F. J. G. Mitchell, 2005, ‘How open were European primeval forests? Hypothesis testing using palaeoecological data’, Journal of Ecology, vol. 93, pp. 168–77; Hodder et al, ‘Can the pre-Neolithic provide suitable models for re-wilding the landscape in Britain?’
23. Clive Hambler and Susan M. Canney, 2013 (2nd edn), Conservation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (read in galley proof).
24. P. Shaw and D.B.A. Thompson, 2006. The nature of the Cairngorms: diversity in a changing environment. TSO: Edinburgh. 444 pp. ISBN: 9780114973261 http://www.tsoshop.co.uk/bookstore.asp?FO=1160013&ProductID=9780114973261&Action=Book.
25. Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, 2010, Heather Moorland and Bog Habitat Action Plan, http://www.montwt.co.uk/Heathermoorlandandbogactionplan.html
26. Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, Glaslyn Management Plan 2009–2014.
27. See Heather Crump and Mick Green, 2012, ‘Changes in breeding bird abundances in the Plynlimon SSSI 1984–2011’, Birds in Wales, vol. 9, no. 1.
28. Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, Glaslyn Management Plan 2009–2014.
29. Dr Barbara Jones, Countryside Council for Wales, February 2007, A Framework to Set Conservation Objectives and Achieve Favourable Condition in Welsh Upland SSSIs, http://www.ccgc.gov.uk/PDF/UPland%20Framework%201.pdf
30. Clive Hambler and Martin Speight, 1995, ‘Biodiversity conservation in Britain: science replacing tradition’, British Wildlife, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 137–48.
31. N. Noe-Nygaard, T. D. Price and S. U. Hede, 2005, ‘Diet of aurochs and early cattle in southern Scandinavia: evidence from 15N and 13C stable isotopes’, Journal of Archaeological Science, vol. 32, pp. 855–71, doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2005.01.004.
32. The Mammal Society, 2011, http://www.mammal.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=250&Itemid=283.
33. Derek Yalden, 1999, The History of British Mammals, T and AD Poyser, London.
34. R. Coard and A. T. Chamberlain, 1999, ‘The nature and timing of faunal change in the British Isles across the Pleistocene/Holocene transition’, The Holocence, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 372–6, doi: 10.1191/095968399672435429.
35. The Mammal Society, 2011.
36. Robert S. Sommer et al. 2011, ‘Holocene survival of
the wild horse in Europe: a matter of open landscape?’, Journal of Quaternary Science, vol. 26, no. 8, pp. 805–12, doi: 10.1002/jps.1509.
37. The Mammal Society, 2011.
38. Hambler and Canney, Conservation.
39. John Lawton, 2010, Making Space for Nature: A Review of England’s Wildlife Sites and Ecological Network, DEFRA, http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/biodiversity/documents/201009space-for-nature.pdf
40. Clive Hambler, Peter A. Henderson and Martin R. Speight, 2011, ‘Extinction rates, extinction-prone habitats, and indicator groups in Britain and at larger scales’, Biological Conservation, vol. 144, pp. 713–21, doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2010.09.004.
41. Jones, A Framework to Set Conservation Objectives.
42. Gareth Browning and Rachel Oakley, 2009, ‘Wild Ennerdale’, British Wildlife, vol. 20, no. 5 (special supplement), pp. 56–8.
43. The Wildlife Trusts, 2009, ‘A living landscape: a call to restore the UK’s battered ecosystems, for wildlife and people’, updated, http://www.wild-lifetrusts.org/sites/wt-main.live.drupal.precedenthost.co.uk/files/A%20Living%20Landscape%20report%202009%20update.pdf
44. See, for example, PAN Parks Foundation, 2009, As Nature Intended: Best Practice Examples of Wilderness Management in the Natura 2000 Network, http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/?uNewsID=192724
13. REWILDING THE SEA
1. Sam Davis, 2008, Spider Crabs–the Wildebeest of our Waters, http://helfordmarineconservation.co.uk/publications/newsletters/spider-crabs-the-wildebeest-of-our-waters/
2. Callum Roberts, 2007, The Unnatural History of the Sea, Gaia, London.
3. Oliver Goldsmith, 1776, An History of the Earth and Animated Nature, vol. VI, James Williams, Dublin. Cited by Roberts, Unnatural History of the Sea.
4. Mike Thrussell, 2010, ‘History of the British tuna fishery’, http://www.worldseafishing.com/features/britishtuna.html
5. Yorkshire Film Archive, no date given, ‘Tunny in Action’, http://www.yfaonline.com/film/tunny-action
6. Andrew Burnaby, quoted by Roberts, Unnatural History of the Sea.
7. Potomac Conservancy, 2012, ‘Find out about Potomac water quality’, http://www.potomac.org/site/water-quality/
8. Christopher Mitchelmore, 2010, ‘Newfoundland & Labrador cod fishery’, http://liveruralnl.com/2010/07/17/newfoundland-labrador-cod-fishery/
9. Roberts, Unnatural History of the Sea.
10. J. Roman and S. R. Palumbi, 2003, ‘Whales before whaling in the North Atlantic’, Science, vol. 301, no. 5632, pp. 508–10.
11. Roberts, Unnatural History of the Sea.
12. Fred Pearce, 9 June 2001, ‘Who’s the real killer?’, New Scientist, http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17022942.600-whos-the-real-killer.html; Sidney Holt, 2003, ‘The tortuous history of “scientific” Japanese whaling’, BioScience. Cited by Joe Roman and James J. McCarthy, 2010, ‘The whale pump: marine mammals enhance primary productivity in a coastal basin’, PLoS ONE, vol. 5, no. 10, pp. 1–8, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0013255.
13. Stephen Nicol, 12 July 2011, ‘Vital giants: why living seas need whales’, New Scientist, http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128201.700-vital-giants-why-living-seas-need-whales.html
14. Stephen Nicol et al, 2010, ‘Southern Ocean iron fertilization by baleen whales and Antarctic krill’, Fish and Fisheries, vol. 11, pp. 203–9.
15. Kakani Katija and John O. Dabiri, 2009, ‘A viscosity-enhanced mechanism for biogenic ocean mixing’, Nature, vol. 460, pp. 624–7, doi: 10.1038/nature08207.
16. Nicol et al, ‘Southern Ocean iron fertilization by baleen whales and Antarctic krill’.
17. Roman and McCarthy, ‘The whale pump: marine mammals enhance primary productivity in a coastal basin’.
18. Daniel G. Boyce, Marlon R. Lewis and Boris Worm, 2010, ‘Global phytoplankton decline over the past century’, Nature, vol. 466, pp. 591–6, doi: 10.1038/nature09268.
19. Nichol, ‘Vital giants: why living seas need whales’.
20. Trish J. Lavery et al, 2010, ‘Iron defecation by sperm whales stimulates carbon export in the Southern Ocean’, Proceedings of the Royal Society: B, vol. 277, pp. 3527–31, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0863.
21. A. J. Pershing et al, 2010, ‘The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better’, PLoS One, vol. 5, e12444. Cited by James A. Estes et al, 2011, ‘Trophic downgrading of planet Earth’, Science, vol. 333, pp. 301–6, doi: 10.1126/science.1205106.
22. Ransom A. Myers et al, 2007, ‘Cascading effects of the loss of apex predatory sharks from a coastal ocean’, Science, vol. 315, pp. 1846–50, doi: 10.1126/science.1138657.
23. Ibid.
24. Julia K. Baum and Boris Worm, 2009, ‘Cascading top-down effects of changing oceanic predator abundances’, Journal of Animal Ecology, vol. 78, pp. 699–714, doi: 10.1111/j.1365–2656.2009.01531.x.
25. Ibid.
26. Friedrich W. Köster and Christian Möllmann, 2000, ‘Trophodynamic control by clupeid predators on recruitment success in Baltic cod?’, ICES Journal of Marine Science, vol. 57, pp. 310–23, doi: 10.1006/jmsc.1999.0528.
27. The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, 2004, Turning the Tide: Addressing the Impact of Fisheries on the Marine Environment, 25th Report.
28. Jeremy B. C. Jackson et al, 2001, ‘Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of coastal ecosystems’, Science, vol. 293, pp. 629–38.
29. James A. Estes and David O. Duggins, 1955, ‘Sea otters and kelp forests in Alaska: generality and variation in a community ecological paradigm’, Ecological Monographs, vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 75–100.
30. Shauna E. Reisewitz, James A. Estes and Charles A. Simenstad, 2006, ‘Indirect food web interactions: sea otters and kelp forest fishes in the Aleutian archipelago’, Oecologia, vol. 146, pp. 623–31, doi: 10.1007/s00442-005-0230-1; Jackson et al, ‘Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of coastal ecosystems’.
31. Ole Theodor Oslen, 1883, The Piscatorial Atlas of the North Sea, English Channel, and St. George’s Channels, Grimsby.
32. Jackson et al, ‘Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of coastal ecosystems’.
33. Ibid.
34. Ibid.
35. Georgi M. Daskalov, 2002, ‘Overfishing drives a trophic cascade in the Black Sea’, Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 225, pp. 53–63.
36. C. P. Lynam et al, 2011, ‘Have jellyfish in the Irish Sea benefited from climate change and overfishing?’, Global Change Biology, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 767–82, doi: 10.1111/j.1365–2486.2010.0235.
37. J. Molloy, 1975, The Summer Herring Fishery in the Irish Sea in 1974, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Ireland, http://oar.marine.ie/bistream/10793/493/1/Irish%20Fisheries%20Leaflet%20No%2070.pdf
38. Anthony J. Richardson et al, 2009, ‘The jellyfish joyride: causes, consequences and management responses to a more gelatinous future’, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 312–22.
39. Ibid.
40. Ruth H. Thurstan, Simon Brockington and Callum M. Roberts, 2010, ‘The effects of 118 years of industrial fishing on UK bottom trawl fisheries’, Nature Communications, vol. 1, no. 15, pp. 1–6, doi: 10.1038/ncomms 1013.
41. Some of these are listed in ibid.
42. UK National Ecosystem Assessment: Synthesis of the Key Findings, 2011, http://uknea.unep-wcmc.org/Resources/tabid/82/Default.aspx
43. New Scientist, 17 May 2003, ‘Old men of the sea have all but gone’, http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17823950.200-old-men-of-the-sea-have-all-but-gone.html; see also Ransom Myers and Boris Worm, 2003, ‘Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities’, Nature, vol. 423, pp. 280–83.
44. Quoted in Roberts, Unnatural History of the Sea.
45. Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, Turning the Tide.
46. Dan Jones, 19 November 2009, ‘Scuba diving to the depths of human history’, New Scientist, http://www.newscientist.com/article.mg20427351.000-scuba-diving-to-the-depths-of-human-history.html; Hampshire
and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology, 2011, http://www.hwtma.org.uk/bouldnor-cliff
47. John Vidal, 27 February 2012, ‘Overfishing by European trawlers could continue if EU exemption agreed’, Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmental/2012/feb/27/overfishing-european-trawlers-eu-exemption
48. Ibid.
49. Severin Carrell, 24 February 2012, ‘Fishing skippers and factory fined nearly £1m for illegal catches’, Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/24/fishing-skippers-fined-illegal-catches
50. Justin McCurry, 26 March 2010, ‘How Japanese sushi offensive sank move to protect sharks and bluefin tuna’, Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/26/endangered-bluefin-tuna-sharks-oceans
51. Justin McCurry, 5 January 2012, ‘Bluefin tuna fish sells for record £473,000 at Tokyo auction’, Guardian, http://www/guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/05/japanese-half-million-pound-tuna
52. Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, Turning the Tide.
53. Oceana, 2012, ‘More on bottom trawling gear’, http://oceana.org/en/our-work/promote-responsible-fishing/bottom-trawling/learn-act/more-on-bottom-trawling-gear
54. WWF, 2012, ‘Fishing problem: destructive fishing practices’, http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/problems/problems_fishing/destructive_fishing/destructive_fishing/
55. Hanneke Van Lavieren, 2012, ‘Can no-take fishery reserves help protect our oceans?’, http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/can-no-take-fisheries-help-protect-our-oceans/
56. IUCN, 2003, ‘World Parks Congress Recommendations’, http://cms-data.iucn.org/downloads/recommendationen.pdf
57. Nicola Jones, 16 May 2011, ‘Marine protection goes large’, http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110516/full/news.2011.292.html
58. Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, Turning the Tide.
59. Thomas Bell, 2012, ‘127 marine conservation zones’, http://www.marinereservescoalition.org/2012/12/03/127-marine-conservation-zones/
60. Sarah E. Lester, 2009, ‘Biological effects within no-take marine reserves: a global synthesis’, Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 384, pp. 33–46, doi: 10.3354/meps08029.
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