Vegetation and wildlife of Britain

Britain was originally a land of vast forests, mainly oak and beech in the Lowlands and pine and birch in the Highlands, with great stretches of marshland and smaller areas of moors. In the course of time, much forest land was cleared and almost all Lowlands outside the industrial areas were put under cultivation. Today only about 6 per cent of the total land area remains wooded.

Extensive forests remain in eastern and northern Scotland and in south-eastern and western England. Oak, elm, ash, and beech are the commonest trees in England, while Scotland has much pine and birch. The Highlands with thin soil are largely moorland with heather and grasses. In the cultivated areas that make up most of Britain there are many wild flowers, flowering plants and grasses.

The fauna or animal life of Britain is much like that of north-western Europe, to which it was once joined. Many larger mammals such as bear, wolf have been hunted to extinction, others are now protected by law. There are many foxes. Otters are common along rivers and streams, and seals live along much of the coast. Hedgehogs, hares, rabbits, rats and mice are numerous. Deer live in some of the forests in the Highlands of Scotland and England.

Some 230 kinds of birds live in Britain, and another 200 are regular visitors, many are songbirds. The most numerous are blackbirds, sparrows and starlings. Robin Redbreast is the national bird of Britain. The number of ducks, geese and other water fowl has diminished during recent years.

There are many threats to wildlife and ecological balance around the coast. The biggest threat to the coastline is pollution. Even much-loved Blackpool is not officially safe. More than 3.500 million tons of industrial waste is pumped into the North Sea every year. “We cannot continue to use our seas as a dustbin and expect our coastline to survive,” says Greenpeace. Many other ecological problems may be caused by privatization of the coast. Many of the rivers are ''biologically dead'', i.e. unable to support fish and wildlife.

Water pollution

Water pollution is one of the famous and one of the largest problems in our world. People in Africa cannot drink clean water; their children die because a big part of our water has been polluted. Children in Kenya often have to go many kilometers to collect drinking water. At all over 2 million people don’t have clean water. And we do not know how it will be in future.

But the pollute water killed animals and plants too. There is no ocean or sea, which is not used as a dump. Many seas are used for dumping industrial and nuclear waste. This poisons and kills fish and sea animals. "Nuclear-poisoned" fish can be eaten by people.

Many rivers and lakes are poisoned too. Fish and reptiles cannot live in them. There is not enough oxygen in the water. In such places all the birds leave their habitats and many plants die. If people drink this water they can die too. It happens so because factories produce a lot of waste and pour it into rivers. So they poison water.

But we MUST keep our planet and water of our planet clean. If we want to live, we should guard our clean water and do not pollute them because we could live without food about a month but without water we could die in 4-5 days. Let’s keep our water clean!

Weather

There are five climatic zones on this planet: the equatorial climate zone, the tropical climate zone, the temperate climatic zone, Arctic and Antarctic climate belts.
Our country is in the temperate climatic zone. Average temperature is 12-13 degrees above zero (Celsius) here.
The weather is the thing we always talk about. In Great Britain if people don’t know what talk about they talk about the weather. It often changes and brings cold and misty, sunshine and rain, frost and snow.
In summer the sun shines, often there is no wind and there are no clouds in the sky which is blue and beautiful. We can see stars and the moon at night and people like walks, outdoor games and sports in the fresh air. It’s usually 18-20 degrees above zero (Celsius).

When autumn comes, the days become shorter and colder. It gets dark earlier and often heavy clouds cover the sky bringing rain with them. Sometimes there is heavy rain, so that an umbrella or a raincoat is necessary if we don't want to get wet through. Then you can hear people say, "What bad weather! When is this rain going to stop?" Many people then catch cold and must go to bed. Then a fire at home is so pleasant. And in autumn the temperate is usually 5-15 above zero degrees (Celsius).
At last frost and snow come. Fields, forests and houses are covered with snow and rivers and lakes with ice. In winter people enjoy skiing, skating and sledging. Children like to play snowballs. The temperate is usually 5-20 below zero degrees (Celsius).
But spring again brings sunshine and warm winds. Sometimes it snows but snow will not remain long, it will melt in the warm sun." Spring will bring bright sunshine, green grass and flowers. The temperate is usually 13-14 above zero degrees (Celsius).
But the weather is very different, and we can know about tomorrow weather from weather forecasts.
We get wet through when we are caught in a rainstorm without a coat. Sometimes we put on a sweater and then find that the weather has become hot. We do not always know what weather to expect.
On TV and radio there are daily weather forecasts. Sometimes, the forecast is not quite right as the weather is not an easy thing to forecast.
All day and night, weathermen are collecting information from ships, planes, weather stations, and space stations. With the help of this information, they can understand what the weather will be like during the next few days. As a result of the weathermen’s work we learn about the weather.
Although no two days will have exactly the same weather, some types of weather people can forecast. When a barometer shows high pressure, the weather will be calm. In winter it will be cold and frosty. In summer it usually means misty mornings and hot sunny days. When the barometer shows low pressure, look out for rain and strong winds.
People invented many proverbs and sayings about weather. This is some of them: When the wind is west the weather is always best. When the wind’s in the south, the rain’s in its mouth.
If you don't like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes.
A lot of professions are depend of weather. For example: vet, farmer and others.

So we cannot live without weather, because practically all of our plans depend of weather. But without it our life will be very-very bored and routine.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 2281