The leafless trees sway under grey skies as we stride confidently through these old hunting woods. Despite the entertaining flocks of gleaning tits, goldcrest and blackcap, I find myself recalling the comparative bioabundance of the wood in spring and summer, when the rides are full of flowers, fluttery flies and summering birds. The interactions we have with other species define and enrich our nature experiences and are profoundly modified by changes to the mix of species present; between seasons, but also over longer periods of time.
In 1712, when John Morton published his 600-page The Natural History of Northamptonshire, he reported interactions perhaps now gone for ever. Mole crickets lived by the river at Kingsthorpe, and “common ground-pine” grew in Helpston quarries, while water germander (Teucrium scordium) must have been frequent in fen ditches, as he says it gave a garlic-like taste to the milk of cows feeding upon it. Three centuries later and all three species are extinct in Northamptonshire.
Morton tells us that “Many years ago we had wild cats in our Northamptonshire woods … and we now meet with them, tho’ more rarely now the woods have been thinn’d”. These are tentative tones used when a species is teetering on the brink; indeed within 100 years the wild cat was entirely gone from the county.
Sadly, the decline of the wild cat has continued, culminating in its recent re-designation as “functionally extinct” in Britain.
Species have returned to Northamptonshire woods, most prominently the red kite, but also the less obvious polecat. Hopefully efforts last year to restore the chequered skipper butterfly will bring back another species capable of inspiring and exciting our ecological selves.
Further changes to the plants and animals present will transpire, many resulting from conscious decisions about managing the land for greatest public benefit, but some will be less intentional; climate change having an unpredictable impact and invasive species getting out of control. Certain changes could be transformative; it is quite possible that within the next 100 years beavers and wild boar will colonise Fermyn Woods, reshaping the physical structure of the land and the psychological landscape of our experiences.
