A Land for All Reasons
The last battle on English soil was fought at Sedgemoor. Three hundred years later these soggy marshes are the scene of a new conflict over how the land should be used. Peat digging, farming and wildlife are all important to these 160,000 acres known as the Somerset Levels. But each would like to encroach on the other's territory. Throughout Britain such rural land is our scarcest asset. It is our countryside: it supports dwindling bird and animal populations; yet it also grows crops worth more than all our fuel imports, and our forests supply an increasing amount of timber. These resources are vital if Britain is to be more self-sufficient in the future.
But need the nation's ecology and economy always be at loggerheads? Our major centre for ecological research - the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology - believes it may have found some of the answers to this problem. Narrator RAY MOORE
Film editor MICHAEL RIGG
Editor SIMON CAMPBELL-JONES Written and produced by ROBIN BRIGHTWELL