The growth of birding as a popular pastime – and twitching as a competitive if disorganised sport – was greatly helped by the post-war development of the British and international road systems.
49 : Road sign
1923
The growth of birding as a popular pastime – and twitching as a competitive if disorganised sport – was greatly helped by the post-war development of the British and international road systems.
The notion of travelling to see birds, rare or otherwise, would be mere smoke without a well-connected and well-maintained road network. Cars, very much a luxury at the beginning of the last century, are now integral to so many aspects of modern life, and birding is no exception.
The first private motor vehicle was registered on 3 July 1895, with several others following that year, but roads had hitherto been designed for horse traffic, either being topped with dry, dusty tar or very often being little more than dirt tracks, damped down by water trucks. Until the First World War, these were soon worn into disrepair in many places by heavy cars and steam-driven lorries.
The fact that the internal combustion engine would be the mode of transport of the 20th century was, however, realised early on, and several prescient engineers advocated a safe and graded network of well-constructed roads for Britain, partly inspired by Italy’s construction in 1921 of its first section of autostrade, which soon connected Milan and Varese. In Britain the Trunk Roads Act of 1936 enabled the government to control the country’s connective arteries, and during the 1939-1945 war plans were drawn up for Britain’s post-conflict economic recovery, with a new road system cited as a touchstone for this.
The expansion of Britain’s roads was therefore only encouraged by the end of the Second World War, and the first listing of road numbers in 1923 was followed by the publication of the first projected map of what would become the motorway system in 1946 – this including the circular route of the putative M25. By 1958, the first 8.3 miles of the M6 was opened – the Preston by-pass – with the entire M1 opening the following year, providing a high-speed link from London to Birmingham. December 1965 saw the introduction of the 70 mph speed limit on the motorways.
Before such extensive road construction happened, the idea of travelling the length and breadth of the country to watch birds would have been inconceivable. Yet today cars and the freedom of movement they provide are for many an integral part of birding – along with the direct innovations in optics, books and telecommunications, the development of the road system has to be seen as a key background driver for the range and scope of the modern hobby as we know it.