Restoration of Sweet Chestnut coppice

[Tracy]

I have also had it pointed out to me - it is the soil that is ancient, not the trees....

[Zonda]

The last ice age did for all the trees, and a lot of the wildlife in Northern Europe. When the ice receded re-growth happened fairly quickly, but species of plants and animals were limited on these islands by the formation of the English Channel. At this time Neolithic man also returned, and proceeded to clear the land for agriculture. Since then every part of our landscape has been affected by human activities. The fens became drained and the Norfolk broads were created by peat digging, the highlands of Scotland were cleared of the old extensive Caledonian forests, Salisbury plain was cleared of large vegetation, every habitat has been impacted to a very large degree by our activities. Later the Medieval kings created forests, and stocked them with game, like boar and red deer for their own use. Our remaining forests are largely remnants of these sporting grounds. The British isles has been created essentially, as a large deer park come garden, where nothing is left to nature. The hand of man is still everywhere. I often wonder,,,if we were to become extinct,,what would Europe look like after several hundred years. rant over.

[Lee Hurrell]

I often wonder,,,if we were to become extinct,,what would Europe look like after several hundred years.

There's a series on at the moment on the history channel called 'Life After People' about just that subject Zonda. Essentially nature takes over once the hand of man stops interfering, as you might expect! While this would be great for many of our plants, animals and insects, the programme does portray this as not always in a good way, with the introduced and invasive species with no natural predators tending to take over and strangle the domestic species for dominance, knotweeds for example.

With regard to royal forests and hunting grounds, I think I'm right in saying that a 'royal forest' wasn't just woodland but described the whole area used for hunting, open spaces included. Of course, if you were caught poaching or I think, even rearing animals, in the king's forest you would more than likely have your head chopped off!

Cheers

Lee