The Ice Age and the landscape
Britain's Atlantic weather and its northerly latitude are major factors in shaping our landscapes through the action of ice, wind and rain. In modern times, our temperate climate keeps the countryside green.
During the last Ice Age, Britain lost all of its tree cover when much of the island was covered by a massive ice sheet and the south was tundra. Sea levels fell and a land bridge to mainland Europe emerged. When the climate warmed about 10,000 years ago, trees began to re-colonise Britain from warmer areas in the south – among them birches and pines, followed by oak, elm, elder and lime. Eventually around 33 species became established here – what we call our native trees.
But as the ice retreated, sea levels began to rise and the land bridge eventually collapsed. You can see its remnants in the chalk cliffs of Kent. The last glaciers, which had once reached two km in thickness, only withdrew from Scotland 8,000 years ago. At the same time Britain became definitively an island.
