The building blocks have been destroyed

The British countryside has been utilised repeatedly over the years, and Lindsay Waddell examines the damage humans have caused

- Lindsay Waddell

Although many who chose to live in the countryside may think that it has been like it is now for hundreds of years, they are sadly mistaken, and those who have been impacted most by the changes are those who rely on it for their very existence. That includes a whole range of living things, including man.

The gamekeepers who survived World War I returned to a land very similar to what they had left behind, but rapid change in the great scheme of the passage of time was on its way. Another conflict only 20 years or so later really forced the countryside to change its clothes. The pressure to survive World War II was really the driving force behind where we are now, as the nation’s food supply became a matter of life or death.

Those farmers who would not or could not meet the new demands of supply were at risk of having their land quite simply taken from them and given to someone who would farm it as the Government wanted. This was the new world of production. Land that may never have seen a plough was turned over, drainage was intensified and rough corners previously thought too difficult to crop were cleared.

Grasslands that had previously only seen livestock graze on their slopes were in turn cultivated. It began a new agricultural revolution, and this has had a catastrophic impact on our wildlife.