Not Purely to Please Us

by Robert

An actively coppiced wood is full of edges and full of light. The dark interior of an undisturbed wood may seem a dull place by comparison but it may contain just as much diversity, though the species will be different. The creatures that shun the edge are often drab and boring compared to the bright butterflies and song birds of coppice. The stag beetle is top of the range for visual interest. We often wax lyrical about the wildlife of coppices but who are we to say that fritillaries and chiffchaffs have more right to exist than some greyish grub that lives in dead logs and few of us has ever seen? Everything has a right to life and wild creatures are not there purely to please us.

— Patrick Whitefield, How to Read the Landscape