Читать книгу Nature’s Top 40: Britain’s Best Wildlife - Chris Packham - Страница 6

Music charts lend themselves to a list according to their popularity based on the solid statistics of sales volume, as do films, and of course computer games and books … but wildlife? Some may wonder how we dare make a Top 40 list of Britain’s greatest wildlife spectacles in such a manner, and may feel that the act of giving each of our chosen entries a number might even cheapen the very spectacle we have filmed and written about.

Others will be indignant that their favourite spectacle has unfairly been demoted to the lower regions of the Top 40. But look down any of the numerous Top 40 lists that have formed the basis of a variety of television programmes, such as the Funniest Moments on TV. Undoubtedly part of the fun is exclaiming in a faux-indignant way that the clip of talk-show host Russell Harty being attacked by Grace Jones is not as funny as the lower-ranked, but hilarious, moment where a slightly-worse for-wear Delia Smith screams, ‘Lets be having you!’ to a bemused Norwich City football crowd at half-time. There will also be those wildlife purists not best pleased that immigrant (and therefore ‘lesser’) spectacles, such as ‘parakeet roosts’ and ‘rutting goats’, have audaciously elbowed a spot in the list and now vie for attention alongside our native British spectacles. And, come to think of it, why are badgers playing and kingfishers fishing completely absent from the list altogether?

Our Top 40 was compiled from contributions by members of the public, following a request on the BBC Nature’s Calendar website for their suggestions. The 40 most popular suggestions put forward were then ‘moulded’ into an order by a panel of wildlife experts who argued (I believe well into the night) on the relative merits of each species and exactly why, for example, the thrilling clouds of butterflies, which was positioned at no. 27, deserved a higher spot than the enchanting light show put on by glow-worms at a more lowly number 38.

The factors taken into account when compiling this list included a combination of how unique the spectacle is to Britain, and a ‘thrill-ability factor’. Some of the entries in our ‘wildlife chart’ involve huge numbers of one species, such as pink-footed geese returning to roost, or bluebells flowering synchronously in a spring wood; others comprise either fewer or single individuals with particularly remarkable or fascinating behaviour, such as spiders building webs or great crested grebes courting. The best spectacles inevitably involved large numbers of one species (or a combination of species) acting in a remarkable manner, with Britain additionally being the best place in the world to view that event. The prime example of this is gannets diving, which deservedly made our number 1, because Britain holds an astonishing 63 per cent of the world population of gannets, and the very sight of flocks of these birds pelting into the water is frankly breathtaking.

It is important to bear in mind that these spectacles have not, of course, evolved for our viewing pleasure, and we are nothing more than voyeurs in what serve as vital functions in the mating and survival games of each of our entries. So, in addition to helping you find out more about how to come across each spectacle, the body of the book is primarily written to enable you to understand exactly what is going on and why, which should hopefully enhance your enjoyment and renew your appreciation of the wonderful wildlife still eminently viewable on and around the British Isles.

We make no apologies for the order of our Top 40; you may not agree with it but, hopefully, it may just occasionally form a stimulus for conversation in place of the latest TV series plotline. Perhaps you will be encouraged to make your own ‘Wildlife Hit Parade’. The primary motive behind the series and this book is, unashamedly, to encourage people to jump off their sofas, turn off their television sets and stow away the computer games console in order to get some fresh air in their lungs and a few spectacles under their belts instead.

Finally, with some insider information, the vast majority of these spectacles can be seen with a little planning and the requisite luck. Only when the joy or ‘Gospel of Wildlife Watching’ spreads to as many people as possible (irrespective of the order in which we place them), will these plants, the animals and their habitats be truly cherished, valued and conserved for future generations.