Conservation focus
Author and occasional Bird Watching contributor Ben Macdonald is currently celebrating an award for writing on global conservation. Here, he talks about his hopes of declines in wildlife and birds being reversed…
We talk to award-winning author Ben Macdonald
Ben Macdonald is no stranger to this magazine. Having written a series of articles on the conservation status of threatened species, and what we could do to save them, he went off on a quest to write a book on the subject that he hoped would spark the imagination of readers.
Rebirding was that book, and the publishers, Pelagic Publishing, say it’s for anyone who cares about Britain’s vanishing wildlife and birds, and is interested in ambitious, but achievable, solutions to wildlife decline.
Critics, as well as readers, would appear to agree. It just won the 2020 Wainwright Prize (awarded for writing on global conservation), having already won the Richard Jefferies Society and White Horse Book Shop Literary Prize 2019.
The book suggests Britain has all the space it needs for an epic return of its wildlife. Ben suggests: “Only 6% of our country is built upon. Contrary to popular myth, large areas of our countryside are not productively farmed but remain deserts of opportunity for both wildlife and jobs. It is time to turn things around.”
Rebirding sets out a compelling manifesto for restoring Britain’s wildlife, rewilding its species and restoring rural jobs.
The accolades did not stop there. George Monbiot wrote: “This is a wonderful book, visionary, illuminating and fascinating. It will help accelerate the rewilding revolution, now beginning in Britain”, Bill Oddie said: “Having read a number of the recent books about rewilding, I was tempted to think, oh blimey, not another one! I am now tempted to say, they left the best till last…”, and Stephen Moss added “Rebirding is beautifully written, based on deep, personal experience and a genuine love of the subject. You may not have come across Ben Macdonald before now; but believe me, you will hear a lot more from him in the future.”
Even our own Grumpy Old Birder, Bo Beolens, got in on the act: “This has to be the one book you read this year, if you read no other, as its messages are myriad and its import undeniable. This is most definitely my book of the year and possibly the whole decade!”
Win-win for wildlife
With the lockdown in place, I interviewed Ben by email about his new book, Orchard, which he co-wrote with his good friend Nicholas Gates (who took the superb photos in the book).
How, I asked, does this book sit in the ‘rewilding model’, when traditional orchards often seem wild enough?
Ben said: “My view (as expounded in the penultimate chapter of Rebirding) is that at times, humans, being a species, too, are eminently capable of creating amazing habitats for nature. Why rewild a hay meadow or an orchard? We have rather larger areas to attend to first. And wherever possible, fusing local organic food production with habitats that in many ways mimic wild ones (a good orchard replicates many elements of an ancient wood pasture) is a win-win for both people and wildlife.”
The start of the book tells you about the history of the apple around the orchards in the Tian Shan Mountains in Kazakhstan, with its amazing wildlife; and how the apple then travelled to Europe, at least 4,000 years ago.
The orchard Ben and Nicholas wrote about was in Herefordshire, and became their ‘patch’, travelling up from Bristol to observe and photograph the wildlife.
The People’s Trust for Endangered Species has identified 35,000 traditional
MY VIEW IS THAT AT TIMES, HUMANS, BEING A SPECIES, TOO, ARE EMINENTLY CAPABLE OF CREATING AMAZING HABITATS FOR NATURE...
orchards in England, crucial to the preservation of varieties of apples and pears and the wildlife they support.
At one time in the south of England, there were 87,000 acres of orchards, but 90% of traditional orchards have been lost since the 1950s to neglect, development or conversion to intensive modern orchards. The remaining ones are often small (half an acre or so) whereas this one is 30 acres.
So what’s the difference between a traditional orchard and a commercial one?
Ben explained: “An organic orchard relies on the magic of selfregulation. Wasps control smaller pests, Blue Tits harvest millions of small caterpillars each year, and a veritable army of Tawny Owls look after rodents that could damage root systems. In a commercial orchard, most often, huge volumes of pesticides can be used, yet as detailed in the book, our orchard still yields a fantastic and largely pest-free crop of apples and pears, each year.
“By using big, old, standard trees, with deep, wide root stocks, the apples can stand the test of time, growing to become the craggy giant fruit trees that are of maximal use to the orchard’s wildlife. Of course, the input costs in an organic orchard are considerably closer to zero. There is the cider manufacturing equipment, and production costs, but maintenance costs are far lower as well.” There are many special birds in the book, including the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a species declining fast in Britain and Europe. An increase in birds in the 1980s was probably due to Dutch Elm Disease, but with many trees now removed, Ben gave me some insight into the bird’s present decline.
“The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker’s primary reason for decline is starvation of the chicks, but Great Spotted Woodpecker is certainly a problem predating the nests (and a bigger one for Willow Tit) – garden feeding has helped for sure to increase the population of Great Spotted Woodpeckers by an amazing 25%. Reversing that decline of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker would seem to be a key conservation job.”
Another bird which seems to suffer from predation from Great Spots and Grey Squirrels is the Treecreeper. Ben didn’t know of any evidence Treecreeper was affected in his orchard.
Declining numbers
Spotted Flycatcher is yet another species found in the orchard. It has declined by 87% since 1970. Ben feels this decline is about a century’s loss of larger flying insects, accelerating since 1950, and the ever more sanitised nature of our countryside. A hundred years ago, the book states, this could have been the commonest migrant bird in Britain. Even at my home in Cumbria, I have only had
BY USING BIG OLD STANDARD TREES, WITH DEEP, WIDE ROOT STOCKS, THE APPLES CAN STAND THE TEST OF TIME...
two nesting in 34 years, whereas Pied Flycatcher nests nearly every year.
Fortunately, the next bird is far commoner, and the old orchard offers it some great nesting holes. The Redstart is widely found around Britain, with an estimated 135,000 pairs. This colourful bird even used the old nest sites of the woodpeckers, which also included the Green Woodpecker, here. Five pairs of Redstarts were present most years, and a nestbox was designed to help them nest in the orchard. This design kept the female sitting on her blue eggs in complete darkness.
Another colourful bird in the orchard is the Jay, still open to persecution from shooting interests even though a Jay can plant 1,500 acorns a year, many of them growing into a tree without the need of a plastic tube. As Ben said, “as key foresters they should be protected.”
As a classic piece of wood pasture, the orchards are grazed by a number of animals, from sheep to pigs, especially when the waste apples and pears are rotting on the ground. Sadly, on most farms in Britain, many of these animals are injected with a poison which not only kills internal worms but is still alive in their dung. This kills many species of insects, from dung beetles to hoverfly larvae, which in turn is an important food for many species in the orchard, including pollinators.
Ben feels avermectins should be banned,
“but you are up against large commercial interests and also need to ensure farmers are moving towards free-roaming models, which render avermectins obsolete”.
● Starting in January 2021, look out for articles in Bird Watching from Ben and Nicholas about their orchard project.