38 



Bird Notes and News 



English Woodlands and Modern Forestry 



In the Spring Number of Bird Notes and 

 News it was intimated that the article on " Bird 

 Sanctuaries " would be followed by one dealing 

 with sanctuaries in other countries ; but before 

 passing to these it has become desirable to 

 say something further of the conservation of 

 English wild life, and the provision of sanc- 

 tuaries, in connection with the work of the 

 Forestry Commission. The hope of every 

 student and lover of Nature is that the new 

 activity will prove of the utmost value in the 

 preservation of the impoverished wild fauna 

 still remaining in Great Britain. The hope, 

 however, must be supported by keen watchful- 

 ness and ready activity on the part of all Nature- 

 lovers if it is to be realised. Even the best of 

 Government Departments is apt to choose the 

 easiest path of good intentions and the slackest 

 methods of wait-and-see, if public opinion is 

 not firmly expressed and public interest 

 vigorously maintained. 



The destruction of old woodlands, hastily 

 taken in hand, more or less (often less) advisedly 

 for national purposes in war-time, has been and 

 is continuing. In part it is purely commercial 

 devastation, undertaken for profit without any 

 further heed. The wood is bought by the man 

 who has money and wants more, the axe is 

 applied, the timber fetches a good price, and the 

 area is left in ruins or is " ripe for development." 

 In part, however, there is some ground for the 

 fear that it may result from the commendable 

 efforts of the authorities to add to the timber 

 supply of the country and to lessen the enormous 

 sum now paid out of the country for wood which 

 may well be grown on our own soil. Old trees, 

 of various species and various ages, are con- 

 demned as unfit ; undergrowth is cleared away, 

 lines of straight neat firs and larches are planted. 

 The old woodlands were the last refuge of 

 many of the small beasties which now represent 

 the rich wild life of the ancient forest, and were 

 the homes and nesting-places of wild birds, 

 some of the most useful of which depend upon 

 trees for food and nesting holes. The new 

 woods ofEer no cover for shy and defenceless 

 things, no nesting-places for birds. 



In the solution of the question lies to a serious 

 extent the future of English wild life. It would 

 appear to depend upon (1) the setting apart 

 of a portion of each area as an untouched, safe- 

 guarded, and permanent sanctuary ; (2) such 

 provision as can be made of nesting-boxes and 

 other encouragement to birds in the new woods. 



So far at least as the birds are concerned, it 

 has to be remembered that they are essential 

 to a forest if the devastations of caterpillars, 

 boring beetles, and larch-fly are not to overtake 

 it. No scientific forestry in the world can 

 afiord to dispense with the assistance of the 

 bird's beak. 



" Birds," said the late Dr. Gordon Hewitt, 

 who well knew what he was talking about, 

 " are the most powerful insecticides we have. 

 We should be well advised to follow the guidance 

 of those European countries who regard the 

 encouragement of birds by the provision of 

 nesting-boxes as an essential element in Forestry 

 systems." 



" The service that birds perform in protecting 

 woodland trees," says Dr. Forbush, State 

 Ornithologist of Massachusetts, " is more 

 nearly indispensable to man than any other 

 benefit they confer on him." 



" Between birds and forests," says Dr. Frank 

 Chapman, of the New York Natural History 

 Museum, " there exist what may be termed 

 primeval economic relations. Birds are not 

 only essential to the welfare of the tree, but 

 the tree is necessary to the life of the bird." 



Apart from the economic question, and that 

 of the preservation of our fauna from the his- 

 torical and scientific point of view, there is 

 another side that perhaps touches the general 

 public still more closely : the educational 

 (using that word in its broadest sense). 



The Rev. H. Northcote calls particular atten- 

 tion to this in a letter he has sent to the Forestry 

 Commission. 



In this he writes : — 



" The woods and wild lands of Britain are 

 entering on a period of transition. They are 

 falling out of the hands of private owners into 

 those of Government. This may well be in 

 many respects, and in the particular respect 

 which I have in mind, a change to the good. 

 We may expect to have a consistent, continuous 

 policy in dealing with the wild lands, a policy 

 which will be handed down from generation to 

 generation. . . . 



" Is the Forestry Commission going to give us 

 forests that will be not only commercially satis- 

 factory from the point of view of timber supply, 

 but also— as forests have hitherto been — inter- 

 esting, educating, satisfying to that craving 

 for wild Nature which people have felt and will 

 continue to feel, side by side with the progress 



