Butterflies or Barley?
Do you remember the English countryside? A jumbled patchwork of small fields, hedgerows, woods -small scale, peaceful, varied? In many places today both peace and variety have gone. From
Hertfordshire to Lincolnshire, England has become a rural food-factory Farmers, backed by generous grants, are urged to squeeze every penny out of their land, and science and technology help them to do so. With large profits on offer, hedges and trees stand little chance. And when landscapes vanish, habitats vanish: the corncrake and large blue butterfly have already gone; 45 of our remaining 60 butterflies are under threat. Is loss of these the price we have to pay for burgeoning food production? Who are the real winners and the real losers in the conflict of the English countryside? Narrator MARGARET HOWARD
Film editor ELLIN HARE
Editor GRAHAM MASSEY
Written and produced by CHRISTOPHER RILEY