From ROGER MITCHELL
Andrew Lucas implies that, in choosing which rare species to save,
most effort is concentrated on flagship animal species rather than on undistinguished
invertebrates and plants (Forum, 6 August). Certainly the choice is difficult.
In Britain, there are well over two thousand plants and animals listed as
endangered or vulnerable in British Red Data Books and some 300 of these
are specially protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. But choose
Since 1991, English Nature has undertaken a species recovery programme,
with the short-term objective of reversing the decline in the populations
of threatened species and a longer-term objective of establishing self-sustaining
populations of these species in the wild.
Through this programme we are presently supporting work on 50 species
of plants and animals, 30 being full recovery projects. Some have familiar
names such as the lady’s slipper orchid, cornflower, dormouse, red squirrel,
bittern, large blue butterfly and swallowtail. However, we also champion
the more obscure, such as the wartbiter, stinking hawk’s beard, thistle
broomrape, strapwort, shore dock, ladybird and fen raft spiders, cicada,
barberry carpet and reddish buff moths, spangled water beetle, glutinous
snail, lagoon sand-worm and, yes, that Dorset ant as well. While we have
not yet included the black rat in our programme, work is about to start
on the pine marten which is considered equally repugnant by some.
Yes, value judgments do play a part, but we would be rightly criticised
if we ignored well-known species; surely, they too deserve their chance
of being brought back from the brink of extinction. We purposely take into
account that such species have the distinct advantage of attracting sponsors
as well as helping to focus public understanding and appreciation of the
requirement for species conservation.
This is not a ‘quick fix’ programme centred solely on single species.
Much of the action is in managing the habitat to improve conditions for
a range of species, whether notable, nondescript, nice or nasty.
Roger Mitchell English Nature Peterborough