Welsh Journals

found on recent afforestation sites. This is partly due to the more varied field and shrub layer common to restocked areas and also to the surrounds of other, older conifer crops. The severe weather of the 1981-82 winter caused major losses of many small songbirds, notably Wrens. A considerable recovery had been made by the 1983 season. Songbird communities on restocked and afforestation sites became increasingly similar along with increased crop age and height. Explanations of Terms: (i) Cleaning:- the removal, cutting out of broadleaved scrub in competition with a conifer crop. (ii) Respacing:- early thinning of a conifer crop, often required where natural regeneration of crop spp. has taken place. (iii) Brash:- waste from a conifer crop, i.e. branches and tops. Abbreviations: (Figs 2 and 3): ssp. 73-Sitka Spruce (Picea sichensis) planted in 1973; dfp 30 Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) planted in 1930; rc Red Cedar (Thuja plicata); ns Norway Spruce (Picea abies); wh Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla); jl Japanese Larch (Larix kaempferi). The Latin equivalents of the common names used in R. Bamford, Felin y Cwm, Eglwysfach, Machynlleth, Powys Landscape ideals and land use John H. Bradley This paper, in a slightly modified version, was given at the Cynefin Conference in December 1982. The present version includes a copy of the Map of Moor and Heath mentioned in the text but not available at the time of the Conference and some pictorial illustrations. The item represents a brief tribute to John H. Bradley, National Park Officer for the Brecon Beacons National Park for many years, who died suddenly not long after sending the text in to the Editor. One of the main statutory purposes of national parks is 'preserving and enhancing the natural beauty' of those areas. 'Natural beauty' is defined as including the 'preservation of the characteristic natural features, flora and fauna'.1 Nowadays it is the tables can be found in any of the standard Field Guides now available. Acknowledgements: Thanks are due to H. Ovens for local temperature records; staff and workers with the Forestry Commission without whose help the final years' fieldwork would not have been possible; to Chris Mead of the BTO for details of Meadow Pipit migration; R. Spencer for helpful criticism of the text and to Heather for typing it. References British Trust for Ornithology. Common Bird Census Instructions; and Guidelines on analysis. Cawthorne, R.A. & Marchant, J.H. 1980. The effects of the 1978/79 winter on British bird populations. Bird Study 27, 163-172. Currie, F.A. & Bamford, R. 1981. Bird populations of pre- thicket forest plantations. Q.JlFor. 75(2), 75-82. Marchant, J.M. 1978. Bird population changes for the years 1976-77. Bird Study 25, 245-252. Marchant, J.H. & Hyde, P.E. 1979. Bird population changes for the years 1977-78. Bird Study 27, 35-40; and for 1978-79, 27, 173-178. Marchant, J.H. & Taylor, K. 1981. Bird population changes for the years 1979-80. Bird Study 28, 147-152. O'Conner, R. & Cawthorne, A. 1982. How Britain's birds survived the winter. New Scient. March 1982, 786-788. Williamson, K. 1974. Habitat changes in a young forestry plantation. Bird Study 21, 215-217. more usual to paraphrase this purpose as 'conservation of the landscape'. In the best tradition of British legislation the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, 1949 contained hardly any useful powers (except for the planting of trees) by the use of which this purpose might be achieved. Normal planning controls, operative over the whole of England and Wales anyway, seem to have been considered adequate despite the exemption from them of important land uses affecting most of the land surface of the national parks. In the 31 years since designation of the first national park, progress with landscape conservation has remained largely a matter of persuasion. A certain moral pressure, coupled perhaps with a vague