In the early 1920s, the British countryside was a place where blackbirds sang, rabbits scurried and the summer skies were animated by swallows and house martins. A century on, blackbirds still sing and ancient oaks stand proud but the landscape is dominated by sheep, cows and dogs – according to Guardian country diarists.
A study of the most-featured species in the Country Diary column from 2021-24 and a century earlier reveals a surprising dominance of domesticated creatures in the mind’s eye of the contemporary contributors.
Sheep may be derided by rewilders but they share top spot with dogs, both garnering 12 appearances each across 110 diaries in a newly published book of recent columns, called Under the Changing Skies.
The oak tree takes second place (11 appearances), followed by the cow (10) and then a run of birds – blackbirds are fourth and robins fifth alongside a surprising entrant, the goldcrest, an easily overlooked little bird that is clearly much-cherished by the roster of more than 30 writers from all corners of the British Isles who contribute to the diary.
Only the blackbird perches in the top 10 of both the 1920s and 2020s, leading the way with eight appearances in the 110 columns sampled from 1921-24.
The diarists of both eras are rather biased towards birds: 41% of the species mentioned in the 1920s were birds, and today they continue to constitute a third of the species written about.
Rabbits are the second most-featured species in 1921-24, reflecting the ubiquity of the small mammal in the interwar era when it was considered a pest for farmers. “The hedgerows, the woods, and the sandy warrens are full of young rabbits; surely there are too many of these beautiful but destructive little animals!” wrote diarist Thomas Coward in 1924, before reassuring readers that infant mortality was so high it would keep numbers in check.
Today’s diarists mention rabbits just twice, perhaps because rabbit populations have drastically declined after the myxomatosis outbreak from the 1950s and, more recently, rabbit haemorrhagic disease type 2, another deadly disease.
Swallows and house martins share second place with rabbits in the 1920s top 10. In modern diaries, swallows appear four times and house martins fly through just two. Populations of both migratory species have fallen by 40% or more in the last decade alone.
Third place in the 1920s diaries is shared by the otter, fox and lapwing, another bird that was once ubiquitous and is now rare in the British countryside.
According to Paul Fleckney, the editor of the Country Diary, some absences today reflect editorial decisions. “There are definitely species that diarists love to write about, so we have to be careful about repetition – lapwing come up quite a lot, as do curlew, swifts, ravens and yew trees,” he said. “But many diaries aren’t focused on wildlife, they might be about rural monuments or an agricultural fair, or even stiles and gateposts.”
The 2020s diaries mention 263 different species compared with just 188 species in the 1920s sample, in part because the 1920s diaries were significantly shorter in length.
The dominance of the dog in the views of the countryside today reflects the growing dog population, with an estimated 13.5 million dogs kept as pets in Britain in 2024, up from 7.6 million in 2011. In the 1920s sample, dogs appeared in the Country Diary just three times.
Livestock were central to rural life in the 1920s when tractors were bleeding-edge technology and heavy horses still provided most of the power on farms. Despite this, both horses and cows are not mentioned at all in the 1920s diaries, and sheep appear just once. Were they simply part of the rural furniture?
Sheep and cattle are given a boost in today’s diaries by the relatively recent addition of two farmer-diarists, the Cotswold cattle farmer Sarah Laughton and the Cumbrian hill farmer Andrea Meanwell. But even discounting their diaries, sheep and cows would both still be among the top 10 most written-about species, reflecting the prominence of livestock grazing and grassland in the British countryside and, perhaps, our enduring fascination with “traditional” animal farming.
Fleckney added: “Quietly, since it began in 1904, the Country Diary goes about its business as a useful historical record of the changes that have taken place in the countryside. Looking into the archives, you see casual references to species that are now rare such as corncrakes or red squirrels. It also tells a story about how people live in the countryside, how they relate to wildlife and, today, the huge changes wrought by global heating on our seasons and nature.
“The diary isn’t a wildlife tracking device per se, although that is part of its broad remit. It also exists to transport you to a different landscape. It comes in the paper after more than 20 pages of hard news so it’s partly a postcard from a particular place, a little bit of escapism.”
If the 1920s diarists had a favourite escape, it was to watch otters, a species that rapidly declined in the mid-20th century before surging back after toxic heavy metals were removed from waterways in the 1970s and otter hunting was banned in 1981. The 1920s’ fascination with otters could also be because other large mammals – deer and badgers – were much scarcer then than they are today. Deer are not mentioned in any of the 1920s diaries, whereas various deer species are mentioned four times in contemporary diaries.
The 1920s diarists would be perplexed by the decline of many common species from toads to swifts but also by introductions and revivals. The ubiquity of raptors such as buzzards and red kites today – which do not feature in the 1920s diaries at all – might cheer them.
The country diarists have always been quick to identify trends in rural life. This summer’s diaries picked up on the striking absence of butterflies and other insects – a fact recently confirmed by the worst ever results for Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count.
Back in the early 1920s, Coward, a retired textile bleacher from Cheshire who was the Guardian’s first country diarist, raised the alarm about the over-collection of birds’ eggs and the near-extinction of the polecat. He also predicted the rise of the urban ring-necked parakeet, mentioning one living in Heaton Park, Manchester, in 1923.
He wrote” “Its experiences are varied, for my first informant found that it consorted with the wood pigeons, and seemed to find them peaceful companions. Now I hear that it has a less happy time with the rooks.”
Coward would be astounded by the noisy flocks of parakeets that dominate London and are still found in Manchester and in other cities today.
Top species in the early Country Diary (1921-24)
Blackbird – eight mentions
Rabbit, swallow, house martin – seven mentions
Lapwing, otter, fox, apple – six mentions
Chaffinch, pear – five mentions
Top species in the modern Country Diary (2021-24)
Sheep, dog – 12 mentions
Oak tree – 11 mentions
Cow – nine mentions
Blackbird – eight mentions
Goldcrest, robin – six mentions
Wren, starling, blackthorn, beech, sycamore – five mentions
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• Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian’s Country Diary, 2018-2024 is published by Guardian Faber; order at guardianbookshop.com and get a 20% discount
