Pigs and Pollards: Medieval Insights for UK Wood Pasture Restoration

Abstract

English wood pastures have become a target for ecological restoration, including the restoration of pollarded trees and grazing animals, although pigs have not been frequently incorporated into wood pasture restoration schemes. Because wood pastures are cultural landscapes, created through the interaction of natural processes and human practices, a historical perspective on wood pasture management practices has the potential to provide insights for modern restoration projects. Using a wide range of both written and artistic sources form the Middle Ages, this article argues that pigs were fed in wood pastures both during the mast season when acorns were available and at other times as grazing fields. Pollarded pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) likely dominated these sustainable cultural landscapes during the medieval period.

Wood-pastures of Europe: Geographic coverage, social–ecological values, conservation management, and policy implications

“…In wood-pastures the objectives of forestry practices are different, aiming to produce branches for fodder, firewood, and poles that are cut on relatively short cycles (Read, 2006). Trees valued for their shade or for their fruit, including acorns for pannage (Jørgensen, 2013), might be left with well-developed crowns. Particular management efforts are needed to maintain the old trees for as long as possible to allow for any species living in or on them to transfer to the new generation when it becomes suitable.…”

Land use for animal production in global change studies: Defining and characterizing a framework

“…Domestic herd animals ( DHA ) included in animal production, and their primary land use(s). Sources include: (Aganga & Tsopito, ; Bayer, ; Blench, ; Bryant & Farfan, ; Cincotta, Van Soest, Robertson, Beall, & Goldstein, ; Coppock, Ellis, & Swift, ; Cosyns, Degezelle, Demeulenaere, & Hoffmann, ; Den Herder, Virtanen, & Roininen, , ; Dereje & Udén, ; Gordon, ; Jørgensen, ; Lamoot, Callebaut, Demeulenaere, Vandenberghe, & Maurice, ; Lamoot, Meert, & Hoffmann, ; Mingongo‐Bake & Hansen, ; Papachristou, ; Papachristou, Dziba, & Provenza, ; Rodríguez‐Estévez, García, Peña, & Gómez, ; Rosenthal, Schrautzer, & Eichberg, ; Sanon, Kaboré‐Zoungrana, & Ledin, ; Serjeantson, ; White & Trudell, ). See Appendix S1 for details on distribution and livestock units [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]…”

What Might a Sustainable Population of Trees in Wood-Pasture Sites Look Like?

“…if the requirement were only to maintain populations of oaks up to 200 years then fewer trees are need to produce a sustainable population structure, hence higher landscape openness is possible. if pollarding were on an annual or biannual cycle for leaf fodder (kizos 2014) many more trees per hectare can be maintained with the same degree of landscape openness than if the branches must grow for longer to produce crops of acorns for pannage (Jørgensen 2013(Jørgensen , szabó 2013. a sustainable population of smallcrowned trees such as the pears (Pyrus spp.)…”