Book Review

by Paul Ganderton

Sheail J. 1998. Nature Conservation in Britain: The Formative Years. TSO. Pp xi + 282. ISBN 0 11 702308 6. £20.

Despite the wealth of new texts on nature conservation today there is a need for something that provides a background - an answer to the question of how it all started and why. Sheail is well known as a recorder of matters historical if for nothing else other than the excellent history of the BES. Essentially, this is a review of the first 50 years of the Nature Conservancy and its descendants since its formation in 1949. The first two chapters review the lead-up to 1949 starting almost 50 years prior and ending with the new Conservancy. Subsequent chapters take a theme - reserves, research and habitat protection and show how the fledgling organisation started to shape both our ideas and the countryside (and how it nearly failed). This takes us up to the late 1960s. The next chapter outlines the considerable changes in attitude in the 1970s. The great divisions created by the splitting up of conservation and research are the focus of chapter 8 leaving the final two chapters to investigate (in less detail than in other areas) the story of the last 15-20 years.

Shaeil bases his book as far as possible on available records which is why recent years are so poorly covered. It is a fascinating history: not the clean, well-defined road we were led to believe but one full of difficulties where politics were as much a part as ecology. Sheail, as always, is a delight to read. This thorough publication is an essential reference text for anyone trying to unravel the British conservation scene.