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QUESTION: What animals or plants are unique to Britain?
Endemic animals and plants, which are uniquely vulnerable because of their scarcity, are a key barometer for measuring the health of an ecosystem.
The Scottish crossbill (Loxia scotica), a small bird in the finch family Fringillidae, is found only in the Caledonian Forest of Scotland. It is the only terrestrial vertebrate species endemic to Britain.
A species consists of a population that cannot interbreed successfully with another species. A subspecies consists of a group within a species that is physically and genetically different from the rest of the group, yet can still interbreed. The Orkney vole, the Skomer vole and the St Kilda field mouse are endemic mammal subspecies.
Regarding fish endemic to Britain, a freshwater fish called the vendace has particularly suffered population loss. At one time there were four native populations of vendace known in the UK: two in the Lake District (at Bassenthwaite Lake and Derwentwater) and two near Lochmaben in south-west Scotland (Castle Loch and Mill Loch).
Water pollution, rising temperatures and the introduction of non-native fish are the likely causes for the Scottish populations dying out during the 20th century. This has left the Lake District as the last natural refuge of the fish.
The Scottish crossbill (Loxia scotica), a small bird in the finch family Fringillidae, is found only in the Caledonian Forest of Scotland (file photo)
Scottish primrose is one of Britain’s endemic plants (file photo)
The powan, known as ‘schelly’ in England and ‘gwyniad’ in Wales, are more widespread than vendace and are found in several sites across Scotland, England and Wales. The torgoch (Welsh for ‘red belly’) is found in seven lakes in north Wales.
Other endemic species include the Shetland char, Orkney char and Loch Killin char.
As for insects, there is the endemic beetle the bronze Lundy cabbage flea beetle. There is also the Scilly bee, Northern February red stonefly, the Caledonian planthopper and Fonseca’s seed fly.
The British cave shrimp and the Horrid Ground-weaver — a spider — are other invertebrates that are exclusive to the UK.
A 2020 article in British & Irish Botany, by Tim Rich, recorded 804 plants endemic to Britain, Ireland and the Channel Islands.
Some of Britain’s endemic plants include Lundy cabbage, Scottish primrose, Cheddar whitebeam and the Great Orme berry.
Paul Walters, Wolverhampton
QUESTION: How did Sandy Balls Holiday Park in the New Forest get its name?
Sandy Balls Holiday Park, near Fordingbridge, was created after the land was bought in 1919 by Ernest Westlake. It was intended as a campsite for members of the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry, of which Westlake was the founder.
Sandy Balls is so named because of the large, sandy hillocks that occur throughout the area.
At Fordingbridge, the largely Norman church of St Mary the Virgin has in its porch a 17th-century wooden notice commemorating the establishment of the ‘Sandy Balls Charity’.
Sandy Balls — along with the likes of Shitterton in Dorset, Twatt in Orkney, and Cockshutt in Shropshire — is somewhere that often finds itself the butt of jokes.
James Hardwicke, Lyndhurst, Hants
QUESTION: What is considered the first British opera?
A recitative — a sung narrative — was first heard in Britain in 1617, when composer Nicholas Lanier used it in the music for a masque by writer Ben Jonson.
A masque was a ceremonial form of entertainment for the aristocracy comprising a combination of poetry, vocal and instrumental music, dancing, acting, costume pageantry and scenic decoration, applied in a most expensive and lavish style.
However, after the Lanier and Jonson work, nothing was heard of recitatives for the next 40 years.
Meanwhile, in Italy, opera had been developing since the beginning of the 17th century.
Then, in 1656, poet and playwright Sir William Davenant appeared to resurrect recitative. He produced a work in London, accompanied by music, in which there were speeches by people portraying the Ancient Greeks Diogenes and Aristophanes, as well as ones representing a Parisian and a Londoner, who were commenting on the cities.
The best-known early British opera is Dido And Aeneas (1689) by Henry Purcell, which is still heard today.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the likes of Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton and Benjamin Britten wrote memorable operas. But famous Italian, German and French works are more commonly performed.
Tony Beard, Billericay, Essex
