Cultural Severance and the End of Tradition

Abstract

Imagine a countryside where ‘Reedbeds are dry and clogged with brambles, heathlands have vanished as scrub begins to take over. Wetlands have dwindled and rivers and canals have become clogged by invasive plants which threaten native species. The loss of money for wildlife-friendly farming has seen farmland birds resume their slide into extinction. Bat populations are clinging on to survival in isolated pockets, facing starvation due to dwindling insect populations, while the country’s flower meadows have all but vanished. England’s uplands have become degraded; their wildlife is in decline and their ability to lock away carbon and to provide clean drinking water for millions sadly reduced.’ This is the Wildlife and Countryside Link vision of a future ‘austerity countryside’ as expressed in August 2010 (The Guardian, 14 August 2010).