Going to Town?

There is a recent report from Natural England (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/05/19/eacountry119.xml) suggesting that much of our wildlife is disappearing from the countyside at an escalating rate with some species becoming 'urbanised'. They broadly suggest that many birds and insects are now more likely to be found in urban gardens and on 'brownfield' sites than on intensively-farmed lowland agricultural areas. This may reflect the lower levels of disturbance in these 'new' areas. Some 40 species of insects are now exclusively found in towns where there have also been large increases the numbers of some bird species (e.g. Great tit, Green woodpecker, Goldfinch and Pigeon). More than half the summer roosts of some bat species are in man-made structures less than 30 years old. It is suggested that wildlife conservation is largely concentrated on protected areas (e.g. national parks) with surrounding locations being increasingly threatened by development and climate change. Many people seem to hope that conservation issues gain a stronger priority when planning to develop airports, roads, major housing developments, flood defenses and tidal barrages etc. There are, of course, several ways of looking at these phenomena. In one sense, the UK countryside is an artificial construct that resulted from early agricultural processes and the wild animals we associate with it were those that adapted to the environments that were created. In modern times, one could argue, the balance has switched so organisms benefit by adapting to urban environments where they are actively (bird feeders) or indirectly (increased numbers of the small birds detailed above as prey items, along with 'high rise' nesting sites for Peregrine falcon etc) encouraged. Human waste also encourages a whole range of organisms who find the material provides easy pickings. It could also be (because there is a less obvious direct economic influence) that, for some species, 'townies' are more tolerant than country folk. We have to go back an awful long way before humans were not a major influence on UK wildlife. In what real sense is Natural England natural?