Nature Conservation

1970	European Conservation Year. A Conservative Government was elected under Edward Heath. Third ‘Countryside in 1970’ conference was held. Conservation of Seals Act established a close season for common seals. Monsanto restricted use of PCBs after high residues were found in dead seabirds. The minister intervened to prevent fellings in the New Forest and preserve the unenclosed woods ‘without regard to timber production objectives’. Nan Fairbrother’s New Lives, New Landscapes was published, as was Max Nicholson’s The Environmental Revolution.
1971	UNESCO ‘Man and Biosphere’ programme called for establishment of Biosphere Reserves with facilities for ‘research, education and training’. A branch of Friends of the Earth was established in Britain. The Agricultural Development Advisory Service (ADAS) was set up. Dutch elm disease was detected in south-east England.
1972	The framework of government research and development (the Rothschild Report) established ‘the customer/contractor principle’ and gave notice of Government’s intention to set up an independent statutory body, the Nature Conservancy Council. The Woodland Trust was founded by Kenneth Watkins. The Local Government Act set up two-tier district and county/regional councils. Government proposed to build a third London airport at Maplin Sands in Essex, noted for its wildfowl, then changed its mind. An endemic grass called interrupted brome died out in its last known site.
1973	UK entered the European Common Market and so joined the Common Agricultural Policy. The Nature Conservancy Council was established under Sir David Serpell (chairman) and R E Boote (director). The former Nature Conservancy’s research arm became the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology. The badger (but not its home) was protected. The Water Act replaced local river boards with regional water authorities. The use of persistent aldrin and dieldrin pesticides for cereal seed dressing was banned voluntarily. Shell launched another ‘Better Britain’ competition.
1974	The county system was reorganised, introducing strange new places like Clwyd, Humberside and Cleveland. A Labour Government was elected, under Harold Wilson. Countryside Commission’s New Agricultural Landscapes revealed dramatic changes to the landscape of England and Wales, resulting from the removal of hedgerows. The Control of Pollution Act made regional water authorities responsible for tackling pollution in rivers. The Sandford Report revealed weaknesses in our National Park system. National Nature Reserves were ‘declared’ at Swanton Novers Woods in Norfolk, Lathkill Dale in Derbyshire and Whitlaw Mosses in the Borders.
1975	The White Paper Food from our own resources advocated agricultural expansion. The Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act protected an assortment of rare animals, plants and insects. A Finance Act provided conditional exemption from Capital Transfer Tax for ‘land of outstanding scientific interest’ (LOSI). The Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) came into force. Membership of county wildlife trusts reached 100,000. RSNC launched the Watch group for young naturalists. Landlife, the urban conservation body, was founded in Liverpool. Local authorities cut back on road verge maintenance. MAFF started to gas badger setts hoping to control the spread of bovine TB. Dutch elm disease spread across central England. By 1977 most tall hedgerow elms were dead.
1976	North Sea oil began to flow. European Wetlands Campaign. Britain ‘ratified its signature’ on the Ramsar Convention on wetlands and designated the first batch of ‘Ramsar’ sites. During a long summer drought many heaths caught fire; two NNRs, Hartland Moor and Glasson Moss were badly burned. The National Trust acquired Wimpole Estate, Cambridgeshire. NCC acquired Gait Barrows in Lancashire ‘after a decade of negotiation’ during which it was badly damaged by quarrying. A Crofting Act gave crofting tenants the right to buy their land. The Government’s Job Creation Programme provided a cheap source of employment on nature reserves. A Joint Otter Group was set up to investigate the decline of the otter. The BTO published the first Atlas of Breeding Birds.
1977	A Nature Conservation Review, an analysis and catalogue of biological ‘key sites’, was published. With that out of the way, the NCC started a Geological Conservation Review, ‘a systematic basis for geological SSSIs’ (the first of a projected 51-volume series of reports appeared 12 years later). NCC also published its first ‘policy paper’, Nature Conservation and Agriculture, proposing a strategy for farmland. The NFU/CLA countered with one of their own, called Caring for the Countryside, basically saying the countryside was safe with them. Planning guidelines on nature conservation were drawn up for local authorities. The first Red Data Book, on vascular plants, was published. In America, Greenpeace was founded.
1978	The Ribble Estuary was saved from reclamation at great expense and declared a nature reserve. In Exmoor National Park farmers turned moorland into fields. An application by Southern Water authority to drain Amberley Wild Brooks was turned down after a public inquiry. National Scenic Areas were designated in Scotland. The otter was legally protected in England and Wales (Scotland followed in 1982). Oil from the Amoco Cadiz tanker, grounded on the Brittany coast, killed a lot of seabirds. A cull of grey seals in Orkney was halted after a public outcry. W G Teagle’s The Endless Village was published.
1979	The Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher were elected. The White Paper Farming and the nation offered a few sops to nature conservation. NCC and RSPB publicly disagreed over designating the Berwyn mountains in Wales; meanwhile the Economic Forestry Group afforested part of it. The EC Birds Directive required the setting up of Special Protection Areas (SPA) (the first batch were designated in 1982). The NCC published its report on Nature Conservation in the Marine Environment. Britain signed the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species. The large blue butterfly was declared extinct. BANC, the British Association of Nature Conservationists was founded. Wildlife Link was established, replacing the defunct Council of Nature. Attenborough’s Life on Earth series was televised.
1980	The World Conservation Strategy, ‘an exercise in confidence building’, was launched. The NCC purchased Parsonage Down in Wiltshire. Administrative changes to Farm Capital Grants required SSSI owners to consult NCC. Horton Common in Dorset was mostly rotovated away. Permission to reclaim salt marsh at Gedney Drove End on The Wash was refused. Marion Shoard’s The Theft of the Countryside was published, as was Richard Mabey’s The Common Ground. RSPB acquired its half-millionth member. Sir Ralph Verney became NCC’s third chairman just as the Wildlife and Countryside Bill began its tempestuous passage through Parliament. Richard Steele became its Director, replacing R.E. Boote.
1981	‘The year when wildlife came to Westminster’: the Wildlife and Countryside Bill was read, debated, amended and re-amended (June-July) before being assented to (October). Wildlife Link learned how to lobby. The National Heritage Memorial Fund helped NCC save the blanket bog of Blar nam Faoileag in Caithness. The National Trust for Scotland acquired the isle of Canna. The first Groundwork Trust was established at St Helens and Knowsley, Merseyside.
1982	After deciding it could not afford to save Romney Marsh, the NCC notified West Sedgemoor in the Somerset Levels and was burned in effigy for its pains. The first ‘Section 29 order’ was served – on Baddesley Common SSSI in Hampshire. After a public inquiry, the minister ruled against extending Cairngorm skiing into Lurcher’s Gully. DDT was finally banned under EC regulations ‘except for emergency use against cutworms’. Richard Body’s Agriculture: the triumph and the shame was published. Britain ratified the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats.
1983	The NCC’s chairman was ‘sacked for doing his job’ and replaced by William Wilkinson. The UK published its response to the World Conservation Strategy: Earth Survival: A Conservation and Development Programme for the UK. The Government belatedly published its Financial Guidelines on SSSIs, and NCC staff knuckled down to renotifying some 4,000 SSSIs to 30,000 owners and occupiers. Revised guidelines were also produced on what qualified as SSSI. ‘EC-funded Integrated Development Programmes’ for the western and northern isles failed to integrate nature conservation. The John Muir Trust was formed to protect wilderness, and Common Ground to promote cultural values in landscape.
1984	The NCC published Nature Conservation in Great Britain, a review and national strategy recognising ‘cultural values’ as the main purpose of nature conservation. Shortly afterwards its head office moved to Peterborough. The Wildlife & Countryside Act was tested and found wanting when proposed SSSIs were destroyed during the ‘three month loophole’ allowed for ‘representations’, and also when attempted prosecutions failed due to poor drafting. In Scotland NCC was obliged to buy off Fountain Forestry who wished to afforest Creag Meagaidh SSSI. At Halvergate Marshes protesters halted drainage by sitting in the excavator’s bucket.
1985	A year of turning points. The Government’s answer to Halvergate was a Broads Grazing Marsh scheme in which farmers were paid to maintain scenic character. The Forestry Commission published Broadleaves in Britain, a significant policy shift in favour of native trees and ancient, semi-natural woods. An EC Directive obliged developers to make environmental impact assessments. The Agriculture Act introduced ‘Environmentally Sensitive Areas’ (ESAs); the first six were announced in 1986. The North Sea Forum, later renamed the Marine Forum, was set up. There was a stormy meeting between conservationists and islanders over the future of Duich Moss SSSI on Islay. The Wildlife Trusts launched an appeal under the slogan ‘tomorrow is too late’. RSPB purchased Old Hall Marshes in Essex for £780,000.
1986	Nicholas Ridley became Secretary of State for the Environment. NCC published Nature Conservation and Afforestation, a policy paper arguing for more constraints on upland afforestation. The first Marine Nature Reserve was made, at Lundy. The Channel Tunnel Bill began its passage through Parliament. St Kilda was made a World Heritage Site. The British Hedgehog Society logged 5,000 members. Oliver Rackham’s The History of the Countryside was published.
1987	European Year of the Environment (EYE). An unpredicted ‘hurricane’ lashed southern England, toppling millions of trees. The Brundtland Report on sustainable development, Our Common Future, was published. Government’s ‘Farming and Rural Development’ package proposed spending more on attractive countryside, including more ESAs. The NCC’s Birds, bogs and forestry, launched in Peterborough instead of Edinburgh, opposed forestry in the Flow Country. An expensive agreement preserving Elmley Marshes in Kent was concluded. The Dorset Trust bought Kingcombe Estate, noted for its wild flowers. Fisons started milling peat at Thorne Moors. The Scotsman thought the ‘conservation pendulum has swung too far’.
1988	Sensing the public mood, Mrs Thatcher made a pale green speech to The Royal Society. Tax avoidance schemes on forestry were abolished. Ridley withdrew compensation for ‘profits foregone’ on forestry on SSSIs in England. Details of a voluntary set-aside scheme to reduce agricultural surpluses were announced. The NCC published The Flow Country, its second report on the Caithness peatlands. A Farm Woodland Scheme was set up to encourage tree planting on surplus farm land. The Broads Act gave the Broads Authority a new set of teeth, and the Broads the effective status of a National Park. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) was renamed The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).
1989	The Green Party received 14 per cent of the vote in the European elections, whilst a Gallup poll revealed that 84 per cent of the public were dissatisfied with the Government’s record on the environment. The NCC published comprehensive guidelines on the selection of SSSIs, shortly before Ridley’s announcement of its imminent replacement by three country-based wildlife agencies. The Freshwater Biological Association was swallowed up by ITE. The Water Act privatised the water companies, but set up a Watchdog, the National Rivers Authority. An unusually mild winter revived talk of global warming. The Countryside Commission advocated ‘community forests’ around cities, and a National Forest in the Midlands. It also introduced a Countryside Premium Scheme to encourage traditional land use. The first red kites were released. A new charity, Plantlife, was launched; so was a magazine ‘for the modern naturalist’, British Wildlife. The RSNC published Losing Ground, a report about habitat destruction. The RSPB celebrated its centenary by breaking the half-million membership barrier. The last coypu was eradicated from East Anglia. Peter Scott died.
1990	An Environment Protection Bill (‘the Green Bill’) had a messy passage, amid much public apprehension about the future of nature conservation after the break-up of the NCC. Chris Patten’s White Paper This Common Inheritance launched a series of annual reviews under this title, but said more about how things are done than about what needs doing. More gales struck southern England. The Countryside Commission for Scotland made another call for National Parks in Scotland. Environmental Impact Assessments became mandatory for industrial developments. The Government embarked on a countryside monitoring survey (the results were published in 2000). The NCC completed unfinished business: an ‘inventory’ of ancient woodlands, a nature reserve at Fenns and Whixall Moss in Shropshire, publications on natural vegetation and estuaries, and an earth science strategy. It also notified its 5,000th SSSI and 2,000th management agreement. Skomer became the second Marine Nature Reserve. The RSPB purchased Abernethy Forest. The Shetland sand-eel fishery, blamed for seabird breeding failure, was suspended. The Department of Transport’s ‘Roads to Prosperity’ promised a bonanza of new roads and bypasses, such as the one about to cut through Twyford Down, near Winchester. Bill McKibben’s The End of Nature was published.
1991	Two new ‘country agencies’ took over the functions of the NCC in England and Wales: English Nature and the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW), together with a co-ordinating body, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). In Scotland, an interim body, the Nature Conservancy Council for Scotland, awaited further legislation. The Forestry Commission was reorganised into a Forestry Authority (grants and licences) and Forest Enterprise (managing the estate). A Countryside Stewardship scheme for England and Wales was launched. An EC Directive on wildlife habitats introduced yet another designation: ‘SAC’ (Special Area for Conservation). The RSNC report on roadworks, ‘Death at Pooh Corner’, estimated that some 40,000 badgers are killed by road traffic each year.
1992	The Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act launched Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), combining the functions of the former NCC and CCS with a more ‘softly softly’ remit and a formal appeal procedure on SSSI designations. One of its first tasks was to pay a landowner over a million pounds for not wrecking an SSSI at Glen Lochay. CAP reforms reduced support for cereals and introduced compulsory set-aside in exchange for area payments. At the ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio, the UK signed a Convention on Biodiversity, a term borrowed from E.O. Wilson’s The Diversity of Life, published that year. A new Badgers Act protected that animal’s home. Wildlife Link published a ‘health check’ on SSSIs. An ITE research station was burned to the ground by animal rights protesters. The lagoon sandworm was declared extinct. A survey showed people walk an average of 250 miles a year but drive 5,000 miles.
1993	English Nature announced a string of new programmes and strategies, on ‘natural areas’, on the coast, on heathland restoration, on species recovery. More controversially it concluded a deal with Fisons over the future of peat bogs. More than a million hectares were declared eligible for ESA grants. Privatisation of the FC estate was considered and then rejected. ‘Nitrate sensitive areas’ to protect water supplies were designated, and more encouragement given to organic farmers. Thousands of tonnes of light oil were spilt from the wreck of the Braer, off Shetland. Stubble burning became illegal. Oxleas Wood in London, threatened by roadworks, won a reprieve. The National Trust banned deer hunting on its property. The RSPB published a new atlas of breeding birds. A survey showed Britons made two billion ‘day visits’ over the year, spending some £15 billion. Former RSPB director Peter Conder died.
1994	Biodiversity: the UK Action Plan was launched. Government published further White Paper ‘responses to Rio’ on sustainable development, sustainable forestry and climate change. The successful Countryside Stewardship scheme was taken over by MAFF. The minister decided against merging English Nature with the Countryside Commission. The nation rushed to access the joys of the ‘information super-highway’ via the Internet. The spectre of BSE threatened the future of beef farming as herd slaughtering began. New restrictions were imposed on out-of-town superstores. The RSNC was renamed the Wildlife Trusts Partnership. RSPB’s attempts to preserve wild geese and corncrakes in the Western Isles caused friction. Glen Feshie was purchased by an unknown body called Will Woodlands. Membership of the National Trust reached 2.2 million.
1995	European Nature Conservation Year (ENCY). An Environment Act replaced National Park boards and committees with freestanding National Park Authorities (NPAs), now the sole planning authorities. It also merged the National Rivers Authority and HM Inspectorate of Pollution to form The Environment Agency. The National Forest Company was set up to run the National Forest in the Midlands. Thousands of great crested newts were ‘translocated’ from a housing estate in Peterborough. The National Trust for Scotland purchased Mar Lodge Estate with the help of a mysterious trust. RSPB purchased its Forsinard nature reserve, protecting 7,127 hectares of flow country. The Countryside Movement (later renamed the Countryside Alliance) was formed to uphold fox hunting and other country matters. The CCW came under attack from minister Redwood. The White Paper, Rural England: A nation committed to a living countryside reflected a growing ‘holistic’ approach to rural development. Tributyl-tin (TBT) anti-fouling paint was banned, but substitutes proved almost as toxic. The Avon Gorge was polluted by toxic slag. Former RSPB director Ian Prestt died.
1996	Britain produced its first set of ‘sustainable development indicators’. Work started on the Newbury bypass amid nightly televised scenes of protest. The Wildlife Trusts claimed proposed roadworks would damage 718 important wildlife sites nationwide, including 76 SSSIs and 31 ancient woods. A Wild Mammals (Protection) Act protected wild animals from gratuitous cruelty, but its main quarry, fox hunting, escaped. The Sea Empress ran aground on the Pembrokeshire coast, contaminating 200 kilometres of scenic coastline. RSPB purchased 242 hectares of carrot fields at Lakenheath to turn into reed beds. The Heritage Lottery Fund helped wildlife charities to acquire important nature reserves and restore lost habitat. The Countryside Premium Scheme was extended to Scotland. SNH withdrew its objection to a funicular railway on Cairngorm. The DoE projected a need for 4.4 million new homes over the next 20 years and set housing targets for county councils.
1997	New Labour under Tony Blair won the general election by a landslide. DoE was forthwith subsumed into a super-ministry, DETR, combining ‘environment, transport and the regions’. The contentious Salisbury bypass was shelved in a policy U-turn on roads. A new regulation empowered local authorities to protect hedgerows of conservation or historic interest. After dry weather, some 89 SSSIs were said to be at risk from water abstraction. At the Kyoto conference, Government committed itself to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 20 per cent below their 1990 levels by 2010. The Royal Botanic Gardens received a lottery jackpot for a Millennium Seed Bank of British and world plants. English Nature attracted critical attention after its less than zealous performance at Offham Down and Thorne Moors. Residents bought the isle of Eigg in partnership with Scottish Wildlife Trust and Highland Regional Council. Basking shark and water vole received legal protection, but the viper’s bugloss moth was deemed extinct (despite protection). RSPB membership reached one million.
1998	Scottish Natural Heritage submitted proposals to Government for the designation of National Parks in Scotland. A scheme to slaughter badgers in selected areas to test bovine TB control policy began in western England. The Raptor Study Group published its report on the Langholm experiment, concluding that hen harriers take significant numbers of grouse. In the West Midlands, ruddy ducks were shot to prevent them from mating with Spanish white-headed ducks. RSPB launched the Land for Life campaign calling for better legal protection for wildlife. It found many farm birds had declined by 50 per cent or more since 1975, including lapwing, skylark, linnet, bullfinch, turtle dove and tree sparrow. The budget of the BTO, which supplied this information, was cut. The last British pool frog died in captivity. An informal body, ‘Flora locale’ was formed to keep an eye on imported trees and wild flower seeds used in conservation schemes. The EU ruled that Britain was wrong to fail to designate SACs on grounds of imminent development. Overgrazing was revealed to be the most widespread cause of ‘loss and damage’ on SSSIs. Morton Boyd died.
1999	The Countryside Commission and Rural Development Commission were merged to form the Countryside Agency. The Government’s ‘rural development package’ proposed to siphon off £1.6 billion of EU agricultural subsidies for agri-environment schemes over the next five years. A new strategy, ‘A Better Quality of Life’, set out revised indicators of sustainability. Housing targets were revised and directed from ‘greenfield’ to ‘brownfield’ sites i.e. urban wasteland. Britain submitted 340 candidate SAC sites to the European Commission, but was told it was not enough. Some 8,000 birds ‘were made homeless’ as the waters closed over the Cardiff Bay mudflats. About 100,000 seabirds perished in oil slicks from the tanker Erika, which broke up off the Brittany coast. In Wales, an agri-environment scheme called Tir Gofal replaced ESAs. The National Trust bought Snowdon with help from the actor Anthony Hopkins. Environmental protesters hijacked a meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Seattle. Greenpeace activists cut down a Genetically Modified crop. The beef crisis was followed by a lamb crisis and then a pig crisis. Legislation protecting important wildlife sites was included in the Queen’s Speech.
2000	The Countryside and Rights of Way Bill (‘CROW Bill’) became law, strengthening SSSIs and giving the public the right to roam on open land – but only after the Countryside Agency has completed its maps, which may take years. Rebellious Labour backbenchers were promised a free vote on hunting with hounds. A government survey revealed huge losses in biodiversity from nitrogen ‘fallout’. Plantlife reported on local losses of wild flowers and a vast increase in stinging nettles. Ben Nevis was bought by the John Muir Trust. A Bill to set up National Parks in Scotland was passed by the Scottish Parliament. Two more National Parks were proposed for England: the New Forest and South Downs. A National Wildflower Centre opened in Liverpool. A jury found Greenpeace protesters had a ‘lawful excuse’ for destroying a crop of GM maize, and acquitted them. The RSPB purchased Hope Farm in Cambridgeshire and 352 hectares of Rainham Marshes in London. Climate change was a hot topic. Monthly temperature averages over the past two years were consistently higher than normal. The floods of October-December 2000 were the most widespread in 50 years, prompting the minister to advise us to ‘wake up’ to global warming. The RSPB urged us to put out grain for starving farm birds.
2001	Over three million cattle, sheep and pigs were slaughtered during an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. By the end of the year it had cost about £2.7 billion in compensation payments. Public footpaths were shut for most of the spring. After the General Election in June, MAFF was abolished and a new Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs formed (DEFRA – pronounced Deff-Ra). Scottish Executive published a policy statement, The Nature of Scotland, promising reform of wildlife laws, but not necessarily in the direction of conservation. Biodiversity Counts, a review by the voluntary bodies, chalked up some successes, but criticised some government departments for failing ‘to fully engage’ with the BAP process. The Hills Task Force’s report proposed payments for environment-friendly farming in all Less Favoured Areas. Attempts began to eradicate mink from the Outer Hebrides. Planning permission was refused for a controversial bypass at Hastings. An inventory of England’s trees found there are 25 trees for every person, more than at any time since the Middle Ages. A report on climate change predicted extinction in the next 50 years for some mountain species. The fossil-rich ‘Jurassic coast’ of Devon and Dorset was dubbed a World Heritage site. A government review report recommended the removal of the JNCC from the grasp of the country conservation agencies, and renaming it the UK Nature Advisory Council.

Appendices

APPENDIX 1: Main events affecting nature conservation in Great Britain, 1970-2000

APPENDIX 2: Glossary of conservation words and abbreviations

Unofficial acronyms