SOME ASPECTS OF CONSERVATION
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A species may be rare because of man's activity. If it is a
species thought to be disadvantageous to man, its extermination
will not raise a ripple. If it is neither good nor bad, there will
be a little ripple in some circles. If it is economically good there
will be greater efforts to save it from extermination. Looked at
any way, we have no right to exterminate any species deliberately
and in cold blood. Control, yes; extermination, no.
But a species may be rare for very different reasons—it may
be on its way out anyway, or it may be rare in a locality because
it is on the edge of its geographical range. This last must be
true of many of our migrant birds, and rarer residents, and it
certainly is true of many of the plants in our flora. Here they
are rare; elsewhere they may be common, like our old friend
Ophioglossum. Ought we therefore to set aside tracts of land
for the preservation of these species? I venture to suggest that a
botanic garden is the place for such as these if there is a need
to have them on hand for study. We have a case of an area
within the County, which has been fenced at considerable cost
because of the so-called rare marsh species growing there. But
these plants are only rare in Essex—further north they are in
no danger of extinction. We have cases of such rarities actually
being transplanted into reserves, and the local flora being
butchered to create conditions ideal for the newcomer. Is this a
wise deployment of time and energy? Taken to its conclusion,
we ought to be planting coconut palms in our reserves; after all,
they are extremely rare in Essex!
This apparent frivolity hides an important truth. I believe a
lot of conservation activity is promoted by the desire for one-
upmanship. Take this case—"It would be nice", said one con-
servationist, "to have avocets on our reserve". He, therefore,
proposed submerging a most interesting and educationally use-
ful piece of saltings under a freshwater lake in the fond hope
that avocets would come. And this in a place miles from any
known sites of avocets.
Or, again, a most interesting beach was closed to everybody,
layman and student alike, in the hope that the Little Tern would
come and nest there. In the event, terns did not nest, but it was
three seasons before the order to close was rescinded.
I make these points, not as an anti-bird man, but to illustrate
what I consider to be a great danger in the conservation move-
ment. It is difficult enough to convince the lay public and
planning authorities of the needs of wildlife even when it is
there—they often seem to regard conservationists as cranks—
but how much more difficult is it when the birds or what-have-you
are not there. We must beware of this attitude which says, "Our
reserve is better than yours because we have the Lesser Spotted
Mugwump." So what? The others have probably got the Greater
Blue-bellied Nit, and so the ding-dong battle goes on.