A lot can change in a hundred years, some good, some bad. During the 20th century a lot did. Perhaps technology in particular, with far-reaching ramifications. But what about the habitats and wildlife of Whittingehame? What’s happened to them since Alice and her siblings were around? Comparing the list of moths that I have found so far with those that Alice recorded, suggests that the species present are largely similar (abundance is probably another story). There are some new arrivals, others are sadly no longer to be found there, but most of the moths she enjoyed on the estate are still to be enjoyed on the estate. Some winners, some losers, and all the rest somewhere in between. That’s life.

Whittingehame Estate is a mix of woodland, farmland and parkland. The National Library of Scotland hosts a fantastic online resource, where it is possible to lose direction for many hours browsing a rich repository of historical maps. The first Ordnance Survey maps of the area can be explored and overlayed with current satellite imagery to see changes in land use over the last 150 years. Although towns have expanded significantly, smaller fields have merged into larger fields and farmland has made small inroads into the heathery Lammermuirs, broadly speaking, at mapping resolution at least, the land looks much the same now as in Alice’s day.

From even older maps going back to the 17th Century, we can see woodland along Whittingehame glen between Ruchlaw and Papple, and significant woodland at Pressmennan.

As time passed the wooded areas have spread from the valley as various plantations, policies and parklands were planted based on the interests and desires of the estate owner of the time. This expansion would have been achieved though both felling and re-planting, and in the process most of the ancient trees replaced by newer plantings. During Alice’s day forestry operations were an active part of the estate and the woodlands managed on a commercial basis, including much conifer planting. Her brother Arthur was a keen forester and conducted experiments on the different growth rates trees and added specimens to the notable arboretum. A glimpse of the estate’s forestry can be gleaned from a detailed account of a visit to the Estate by the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society in 1922:

“On the kind invitation of the Earl of Balfour and Miss Balfour, members of the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society, to the number of thirty, paid a visit to Whittingehame Estate on Saturday,22nd September last. The party travelled by motor charabanc from Edinburgh, halting at Haddington, where a visit was paid to the old Abbey and lunch partaken of, before proceeding to their destination.”…

(read the full story from the link below!)

Although there remain some older trees around the house and tower, much the woodland on the estate during Alice’s tenure would have been young and temporary. Felling and replanting have continued since then, and today most trees in the woodland areas are probably 50 years or younger.

Many moth species can survive woodland disturbance, maintaining a refuge in some areas when others are being clear-felled and having caterpillars that will feed from several different food plants. It is the species with more exacting requirements that suffer. The specialists. As forestry technology has developed, the area that can be felled in one go has increased. The replanted areas usually hold trees of the same age, and often of a limited number of species. The trees are only grown to a commercially rewarding age. Niches such as dead wood, fungi, mosses and lichens can disappear. As a result some of the specialist moths (and other wildlife) also disappear. Much of this impact will already have taken its toll by Alice’s day and there are few woodland specialists on her list that I have yet to add to mine. But she had Brussels Lace, which hasn’t been recorded in East Lothian since she recorded it at Whittingehame and some near by woodlands. She also came across Spring Usher regularly. This moth may just be less common now. I have found it elsewhere in East Lothian so maybe I just need to try harder to track it down at Whittingehame.

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After woodland, the more formal plantings of parkland and gardens were, and still are, a key habitat type on the Estate. The original parkland was designed by Gilpen with much thought to aesthetics and views. There were many individual trees dotted around, only of few of which still survive as much of the area has been gradually turned to farmland. Alice was a keen horticulturist and in her time the gardens and arboretum flourished and were much celebrated. There were conservatories and vineries including a ‘curvilinear roofed peachery’, extensive herbaceous flower borders and a variety of fruit and vegetables. The walls of the garden were cloaked in climbing roses and she also planted the double avenue of limes to the north of Whittingehame House. Such a varied and carefully maintained planting will have supported several moths that are unlikely to be found on the Estate now, or indeed anywhere in East Lothian. Horticulture, it seems, isn’t what it once was.

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For example the V-moth, a moth Alice recorded regularly, enjoys mature currant bushes probably of varieties no longer planted. These fruit bushes would have been nurtured in the productive walled gardens of large houses across the Lothians. However as these gardens ceased to be needed or a more useful purpose was found for the space the bushes went and with them the fussy V-moth caterpillars. Mallow is another moth that was once quite common up here. As well as feeding on Mallow the caterpillars also like Hollyhock, a flower that is nowhere near as widely planted in gardens as it once was. Possibly along with new varieties and more modern ways of gardening the Mallow moth has suffered, and is now absent from this part of Scotland.

Although some specialist moths have disappeared along with their food plants it isn’t all about loss. There have been many new arrivals to the southern Scotland moth scene and the current county list is longer than it has ever been. These newcomers are mostly species of moth spreading up from further south in the UK, with indications that warming temperatures (notably the milder winters) are facilitating the spread. If this is the case, should we be celebrating?