Page 13 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #12

WILD DECEMBER

Listen out: you’re
more likely to hear a
fieldfare in an orchard
before you see it.

MIKE DILGER’S

WILDLIFEWATCHING

AN ORCHARD In his series of great places to watch wildlife in the UK, the star of BBC

IN DECEMBER One’s The One Show this month invites us to explore ancient orchards,
with tips on ieldcrat and the bird species that you might hope to see.

rchards have been an integral home-grown expertise in grafting and with over-mature trees, in turn providing
component of Britain’s selective breeding that it is believed as bed and breakfast to invertebrates, fungi,
landscape for so long that many as 3,000 different varieties now birds, bats and small mammals.
it’s difficult to believe the populate British orchards. Unfortunately, the rise in cheap
Oancestral species of cultivated Orchards are surprisingly biologically supermarket imports and subsequent
apples and pears actually hail from foreign diverse for what is essentially a cultivated drive towards agricultural intensification
Fieldfare: David Kjaer/naturepl.com; birdwatcher: Simon Dack/Alamy
climes. With apples emanating from crop, as they contain a mosaic in the 1950s ultimately led to the
Central Asia, and pears originating from of habitats encompassing disappearance of numerous
Central and Eastern Europe to southwest elements of woodland, traditional orchards.
Asia, their initial introduction to Britain hedgerow Wearing muted The good news is that,
must be credited to the Romans. and meadow clothes will help of around 42,000
As monasteries, and then large estates, grassland. Fruit you avoid being orchards remaining
carried on the fruity tradition after the trees also age spied by birds. across England and
Romans departed, by World War II the relatively quickly Wales, a healthy
orchard had become a well-established and so they readily proportion are
feature of small-scale mixed farming, accumulate the still in a decent
from Kent to Herefordshire and Somerset holes, cracks and condition and able to
to Worcestershire. Such became the crevices associated accommodate visitors.

December 2018 BBC Wildlife 13