The Isles of Scilly
About 30 miles south-west of Land’s End is the low group of rocks and islands that form the Isles of Scilly. Mysterious, romantic and beautiful, they have long exercised the imagination of story tellers and historians.Rosemary Parslow has spent many years working on the islands, each of which has its own unique character and special plants and animals. In this New Naturalist volume she examines the many aspects that make the islands and their flora and fauna so unique: their geography, geology and climate, the people of the islands, the way they used the land and its present day management.She brings to life the major kinds of habitats found in Scilly: the heathlands, the coast, cultivated fields and wetlands. She also discusses the people who have been important in the study of the island flora and fauna, and tells the story of the rise in popularity of the islands for birdwatchers.This book complements other regional titles in the New Naturalist series which include Loch Lomondside, the Broads, the Lakeland area and Northumberland.
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Collins New Naturalist Library
103
The Isles of Scilly
Rosemary Parslow
SARAH A. CORBET, ScD
PROF. RICHARD WEST, ScD, FRS, FGS
DAVID STREETER, MBE, FIBIOL
JIM FLEGG, OBE, FIHORT
PROF. JONATHAN SILVERTOWN
The aim of this series is to interest the general reader in the wildlife of Britain by recapturing the enquiring spirit of the old naturalists. The editors believe that the natural pride of the British public in the native flora and fauna, to which must be added concern for their conservation, is best fostered by maintaining a high standard of accuracy combined with clarity of exposition in presenting the results of modern scientific research.
Table of Contents
Authorâs Foreword and Acknowledgements
CHAPTER 2 Geology and Early History
CHAPTER 3 Later History - People and Their Influence on the Islands
CHAPTER 4 Naturalists and Natural History
CHAPTER 7 The Uninhabited Islands
CHAPTER 8 The Sea and the Marine Environment
CHAPTER 10 Grassland and Heathland
CHAPTER 11 Woodland and Wetland
CHAPTER 12 Cultivated Habitats - Bulb Fields and Arable Plants
CHAPTER 14 Insects and Other Terrestrial Invertebrates
CHAPTER 15 Mammals, Reptiles and Amphibians
APPENDIX Vegetation Communities
EARLIER VOLUMES OF the New Naturalist library have concerned the natural history of the islands of northern Britain â the Highlands and Islands (1964), Shetland (1980), Orkney (1985) and the Hebrides (1990). Here, in the Isles of Scilly, a group of islands at the extreme southwest of Britain presents a totally different aspect of island natural history.
Any account of the natural history of the Isles of Scilly has to comprehend an unusually wide variety of life and environments. In this striking archipelago of inhabited and uninhabited islands, southwest of Landâs End and on the fringes of the Atlantic, marine and terrestrial natural history are intimately connected. The oceanic climate, with mild summers and winters and stormy weather, exerts a strong influence, resulting in a flora and fauna unique in Britain. Added to this is the effect of thousands of years of human occupation, governed by changing economic conditions and isolation from the mainland, a history which has produced, for example, an extraordinary mix of native, introduced and cultivated plants.
The author, Rosemary Parslow, has an unrivalled knowledge of the natural history of the Isles of Scilly, gained over nearly fifty years of active involvement in observation and survey. Her studies have included the marine life and the life of terrestrial environments, including both fauna and flora. With such a range of practical experience, she is in an excellent position to give a synthesis which covers the variety of natural history of the islands, as well as issues of conservation and future development. Such a synthesis will be welcomed by Scillonians and by the many visitors to the islands, as well as by those with wider interests in the British fauna and flora.
HOWEVER OFTEN YOU go to Scilly it is still a magical experience as the islands slowly emerge out of the line of clouds on the horizon, to resolve into a mass of shapes and colours against the sea and sky. Whether you go there by boat, stealing up gradually on the islands, or by air, flying in low over the coastline of St Maryâs to land with a rush on the small airfield â like one of the plovers that feed there on the short turf â it brings a thrill of excitement every time.
I first went to Scilly in 1958, to stay at the St Agnes Bird Observatory that had started up the previous year. It was an âun-mannedâ observatory, run by a committee of enthusiastics, organising self-catering holidays for groups of bird-ringers to operate it as a ringing station over the spring and autumn migrations. The first year had been based in tents at Lower Town Farm, but by the time of my visit they were renting the empty farmhouse. Like many similar establishments they ran on a small budget and lots of commitment; the living conditions were very basic, but the surroundings idyllic. That first visit was the start of a lifetime love affair with Scilly, which has influenced my whole adult life and has led to writing this account of the natural history of the islands.
Those early visits were made when I was working as a very junior scientific assistant at the British Museum (Natural History) in South Kensington. At that time collecting specimens was still an important element of the work, in order to build up the Museumâs taxonomic collections. So staff holidays often became unpaid collecting trips, and mine were frequently timed to go to Scilly at the best times for âshore collectingâ, to collect marine invertebrates. These were when the equinoctial spring tides occur, around Easter and again in autumn, when the most extensive areas of shore are exposed. This was in the days before cheap wet suits and underwater photography meant that marine biologists were no longer constrained by tides. At that time it was boulder-turning and wading and following the tide down to the lowest level accessible, laden with heavy collecting gear. Most of the collecting I did was to order: specific groups of animals were targeted because these were ones where information on their distribution and status was needed, as well as adding representative specimens to the Museum collections. This resulted in a series of Isles of Scilly collections in the 1960s and â70s, mostly shore fishes, sponges, worms, and other invertebrates, especially echinoderms, my specialist group.
