Previously we talked about the two land zones of the UK Highland zone and Lowland zone. now we are moving forward into more details:
Drainage
The primary drainage division in the United Kingdom travels from north to south, staying to the west until it reaches the Severn River basin. Over relatively short distances, westward-flowing streams discharge into the Atlantic Ocean or the Irish Sea. The only notable westward-flowing rivers north of the Severn estuary are the Clyde in Scotland, the Eden and Mersey in northwestern England, and the Dee, Teifi, and Tywi in Wales. A substantial part of Wales, as well as the South West and West Midlands of England, is covered by the drainage system that empties into the Severn estuary. The Avon (which flows through Bristol) and the Parret watershed extend to the east in the south, but with the exception of the Taw and Torridge valleys, they run quite close to the western shore in Devon and Cornwall in the north.
The rivers that flow east of the main split are longer, and several of them join together to form large estuaries. Eastern Scotland’s fast-flowing Spey, Don, Tay, Forth, and Tweed rivers generally run through impervious rocks, and their discharges rise swiftly after rain. The Tyne, Wear, and Tee rivers flow independently to the North Sea from the northern Pennines, but there are important estuary groupings after that. After leaving the Pennines, a variety of rivers, including the Ouse, Aire, and Trent, flow into the Humber. After sluggishly draining a broad, flat countryside, another collection of rivers (including the Ouse, Welland, and Nene) enters the Wash to the south. The Thames River’s massive drainage system dominates southern England. Its source is in the Cotswolds, and it runs over the Oxford Clay, where it meets the chalk escarpment in the Goring Gap after acquiring many tributaries. A number of tributaries augment their discharges further downstream, resulting in a total drainage area of over 4,000 square miles into the Thames estuary (10,000 square km). The Tamar, Exe, Avon, Test, Arun, and Ouse are some of the major rivers that pour into the English Channel. The Erne, Foyle, and Bann are the three principal rivers in Northern Ireland.
Soils
Local variations in relief and climate link with regional patterns of soil formation. Although changes are gradual and soils vary locally, the distribution of soils in Britain is largely explained by dividing the country into four climate regimes.
The weather is cold and wet at higher altitudes of the highland zone, particularly in Scotland, with more than 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rainfall and less than 47 °F (8 °C) mean temperature annually; these areas have blanket peat and peaty podzol soils with an organic surface layer resting on a grey, leached base. Most of the rest of the highland zone, particularly the lower parts of the Southern Uplands, the Solway Firth–Lake District area, the peripheral plateaus of Wales, and most of southwestern England, has a similar wet climate but with a mean annual temperature over 47 °F. Acid brown soils and slightly podzolized companions cover these places. A relatively cold, dry environment gives rise to soils transitional between the richer brown earths and the podzols in the lower-lying portions of the highland zone, particularly in eastern Scotland and the eastern sides of the Pennines.
Leached brown soils are common across the lowland zone, which has a mean annual temperature above 47°F but less than 40 inches of rainfall. Because calcareous, and hence alkaline, parent materials are common, especially in the southeast, acid soils and podzols are limited to the parent materials with the highest quartz. Brown earths give place to semipodzols at heights of around 460 feet (140 metres) in Northern Ireland, and these grade upslope into more extensively leached podzols, especially in the Sperrins and Mournes. Rich brown earth soils predominate in the Lough Neagh valley between these mountains.
Climate
The climate of the United Kingdom is determined by its location within air circulation patterns and the relationship of its landforms to the sea. Regional diversity exists, yet the country is not cut off from the world’s major climatic systems. The United Kingdom’s marginal position between the European landmass to the east and the ever-present comparatively warm Atlantic Ocean to the west exposes the country to a variety of air masses with varying thermal and moisture properties. Polar and tropical air masses are the two primary types of air masses, based on their originating regions; both polar and tropical air masses can be either maritime or continental depending on their path of travel. For much of the year, the weather is determined by a series of disturbances in the midlatitude westerlies, which bring predominantly polar maritime and tropical maritime air in. In the winter, high-pressure regions to the east occasionally allow biting polar continental air to sweep over the UK. All of these atmospheric systems have a tendency to change course quickly and to vary in frequency and severity by season as well as year to year. The weather in the United Kingdom is notoriously variable, and extreme conditions, while uncommon, can be crucial to the country’s survival.
In the winter, the polar marine winds that arrive in the UK create a temperature dispersion that is mainly independent of latitude. As a result, the north-to-south run of the 40 °F (4 °C) January isotherm, or line of equal temperature, from the coast of northeastern Scotland to the Isle of Wight, reveals the moderating influence of the Atlantic Ocean winds. In the summer, polar maritime air is less prevalent, and the 9° difference in latitude and distance from the sea become more significant, causing temperatures to rise from north to south and from the coast to the interior. Tropical continental air is frequently accompanied by above-average temperatures, especially when anticyclonic, or high-pressure, conditions exist. These southerly or southeasterly airstreams can occasionally produce heat waves to southern England, with temperatures reaching 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius). The average yearly temperature in the Hebrides is 46 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius), while in southwestern England it is 52 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius). A wide range of airstreams and temperature conditions can be found throughout the spring and autumn.
Rain-producing atmospheric systems approach from the west, and some of the harsh summits of the highland zone’s highest peaks can get up to 200 inches (5,100 mm) of rainfall every year. In contrast, Norfolk, Suffolk, and the Thames estuary might get as little as 20 inches (510 mm) of rain per year. The amount of rain falls evenly throughout the year. June is the driest month on average across the United Kingdom; May is the next driest in the eastern and central regions of the country, but April is drier in the west and north. Some of the precipitation falls as snow, which accumulates as altitude rises and the direction of the wind shifts from southwest to northeast. Snowfall can last anywhere from 30 days in blizzard-prone northern Scotland to as few as five days in southwestern England. The number of hours of sunlight per day varies from less than three in the far northeast to roughly four and a half along the southeastern coast.
Plants and Animals
The native vegetation of the British Isles is deciduous forest dominated by oak, with the exception of northern Scotland, the highest hills in the north and west, the saturated fens and marshes, and the seacoast fringes. Outside of the fenced agricultural fields, only scattered forests and sections of wild or semi natural vegetation remain. Few of the beautiful moorlands and heathlands, no matter how wild they appear, can claim to have any truly native plant groups. Almost all have adjusted to grazing, swaling (managed burning), or other activities to varied degrees. Woods today occupies less than a tenth of the country, and despite the fact that the Forestry Commission has been operating since 1919, approximately two-thirds of this woodland is still privately owned. The largest expanses of woodland are presently found in northeastern Scotland, Northumberland’s Kielder and adjacent woods, Sussex’s Ashdown Forest, Wales’ Gwynedd, and Norfolk’s Breckland.
The arctic-alpine vegetation on some mountain tops in Scotland, as well as the far more extensive peat moss, heather, bilberry, and thin Molinia and Nardus grass moors of the highland zone, make up around one-fourth of the entire area of the United Kingdom. Similar flora can be found on high ground in eastern Northern Ireland and on the Mournes, while peat moss vegetation can be found in large quantities on the Antrim highlands. The common heather, whose deep purple lends a splash of colour to the fall landscape, is the most abundant plant of the moorlands in the lowland zone, where light sandy soils prevail, but these places also contain bilberry and bell heather. A strip of ground immediately adjacent to the beach has also generally survived human and domesticated animal use, resulting in areas of maritime vegetation that are often in their natural state.
The ability of wild animals, amphibians, and reptiles in the United Kingdom to adapt to changing environments and defend themselves against attacks by their enemies, the most dangerous of which are humans, is critical to their survival. Mammals in the United Kingdom can survive in a wider range of habitats than amphibians or reptiles. Boars, reindeer, and wolves are among the larger creatures that have gone extinct, although red deer and roe deer can still be seen in the Scottish Highlands and Exmoor Forest, while roe deer can be found in the woodland parts of Scotland and southern England. In most rural settings, smaller carnivores (badgers, otters, foxes, stoats, and weasels) flourish. Insectivores (hedgehogs, moles, shrews) and rodents (rats, squirrels, mice) are also common. Rabbits are abundant, and their population is growing. The brown hare, another nocturnal vegetarian, occurs in open lowland areas, but the mountain hare is peculiar to Scotland. Reptiles contain three species of snakes, of which only the adder is poisonous, and three species of lizards. Amphibians include three species of newt and five species of frogs and toads, while reptiles include three species of snakes, of which only the adder is venomous. Northern Ireland is devoid of snakes.
The British Isles are an ornithologist’s dream in many ways. The islands are at the heart of a migratory network, with a broad range of coastal, farming, and urban habitats for birds. In the United Kingdom, there are over 200 species of birds, with more than half of them being migratory. Many species are adaptable enough to cope with shifting conditions, and suburban gardens are thought to have a higher bird density than any other type of woods. The wild pigeon, pheasant, and grouse are the most frequent game birds. The sparrow, blackbird, chaffinch, and starling are the most common birds.
Waterfowl have been relocated to several bird sanctuaries as a result of marshland reclamation. Ornithological organisations have made a concerted effort to promote and encourage study and conservation. As a result, bird refuges, sanctuaries, and reserves have been established. These advancements, together with a more compassionate and educated mindset, may be able to mitigate some of the harshest effects of environmental change on avian life.
Many rivers in the United Kingdom, previously known for their salmon, trout, roach, perch, pike, and grayling, have become polluted, and inland fisheries have suffered as a result. Freshwater fishing is now mostly a recreational and sporting activity. For decades, the Dogger Bank in the North Sea, one of the world’s finest fishing areas, has given outstanding fishing. The Irish Sea and the waters off the western coast of Scotland are also good fishing spots. Cod, haddock, whiting, mackerel, coalfish, turbot, herring, and plaice are the most common offshore species.
People
People have travelled to the British Isles from all over the world for ages, some to avoid political or religious persecution, others to seek a better life or to escape poverty. During the Roman Empire and the invasions of the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Normans, migrants from the European mainland joined the indigenous population of Britain. The Irish have long resided in the United Kingdom. Many Jews arrived in the United Kingdom between the end of the nineteenth century and the 1930s.
After 1945, the country became home to a huge number of other European refugees. The 1950s and 1960s saw the influx of huge immigrant communities from the West Indies and South Asia. There are also significant populations of Americans, Australians, and Chinese, as well as Greeks, Russians, Poles, Serbs, Estonians, Latvians, Armenians, Turkish Cypriots, Italians, and Spaniards from other European countries. Ugandan Asians (expelled by Idi Amin) and immigrants from Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Sri Lanka have sought sanctuary in Britain since the early 1970s. Persons of Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi ancestry make up more than half of the ethnic minority population, with people of West Indian ancestry coming in second. The number of foreign-born people is disproportionately concentrated in inner-city locations, with more than half of them living in Greater London.
Languages
All of the traditional languages spoken in the United Kingdom are descended from a common Indo-European ancestor, a language so old that it has divided into a number of dialects, each with its own set of sounds, syntax, and vocabulary throughout millennia. Languages from the European continent developed independently in the British Isles, shut off from frequent communication with their parent languages, resulting in the formation of the United Kingdom’s distinct languages.
The two types of Celtic, Goidelic (from which Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic descend) and Brythonic, were the first to emerge among the surviving languages (from which the old Cornish language and modern Welsh have developed). Welsh is the most widespread of the modern Celtic languages: it is spoken by around one-fifth of Wales’ total population, and it is spoken by more than half of the population in interior upland areas and districts facing the Irish Sea. Although it is still spoken in the surrounding North West Highlands, Scottish Gaelic is greatest among the residents of the Outer Hebrides and Skye. Gaelic has long since ceased to be a national language because less than 2% of Scots can speak it, and even in northwestern areas where it is still the language of church, business, and social life, it is losing ground. There is relatively little Irish spoken in Northern Ireland. Similarly, Manx no longer has any native speakers, despite the fact that it was spoken by over half of the Isle of Man’s population as recently as 1870. Cornish was last spoken by native speakers in the 18th century.
The second link with Indo-European is through the ancient Germanic Language group, two branches of which, the North Germanic and the West Germanic, were destined to make contributions to the English language. Modern English is derived mainly from the Germanic dialects spoken by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes (who all arrived in Britain in the 5th century AD) and heavily influenced by the language of the Danes (Vikings), who began raiding the British Isles about 790 and subsequently colonized parts of northern and eastern England. The Humber formed an important linguistic and physical boundary, dividing English-speaking area into two provinces: Northumbrian (roughly equivalent to the kingdom of Northumbria) and Southumbrian (approximately corresponding to the kingdom of Southumbria) (in which the most important kingdoms were Mercia, Wessex, and Kent). Northumbria dominated literature and culture in the eighth century, followed for a short time by Mercia; after that, Wessex dominated politically and linguistically until the reign of King Edward the Confessor.
Despite the fact that the French-speaking Normans were also descended from Vikings, the English folk first viewed them as a far more foreign species than the Danes. England was part of a continental empire under the Norman and Angevin kings, and the new rulers’ and landlords’ continued ties to France left an indelible mark on the English language. Until the mid-14th century, when late Middle English, a language largely influenced by Norman French, became the official language, a hybrid speech mixing Anglo-Saxon and Norman French features arose and remained the official language, sometimes even displacing Latin in public documents. This hybrid language eventually became modern English. Since the 14th century, several changes to the English language have been made, but the Normans were the last major linguistic group to arrive in Britain.
Religions
The many Christian denominations in the United Kingdom arose through centuries of schisms within the church. The most famous of these was Henry VIII’s rejection of the pope’s power in England in the 16th century. Although Roman Catholicism still maintains adherents in England, this rupture with Rome facilitated the adoption of some Protestant principles and the formation of the Religion of England, which is today the state church in the country. In Scotland, the Reformation gave birth to the Church of Scotland, which was controlled by presbyteries, rather than bishops, as in England. These events had little effect on Roman Catholicism in Ireland as a whole, but the Anglican and Scottish (Presbyterian) churches had a large following in what became Northern Ireland. Further schisms split the Church of England in the 17th century as a result of the Puritan movement, which spawned so-called Nonconformist churches like the Baptists and Congregationalists, which mirrored the Puritan desire for simpler forms of worship and church management. At the same time, the Society of Friends (Quakers) was founded. The Presbyterian Church of Wales (or Calvinistic Methodism) remains the most dominant religious group in the principality, thanks to mid-eighteenth-century religious revivals that gave Wales a brand of Protestantism firmly related to the Welsh language. Methodist churches were founded as a result of the major Evangelical revivals of the 18th century, which were associated with John Wesley and others. Methodists still make up the majority of the population in Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire in northeastern England, as well as Cornwall in the southwest. The Salvation Army and other fundamentalist faiths arose in the nineteenth century. Denominations from the United States acquired followers as well, and the practice of Judaism in Britain increased significantly. In 1290, Jews were driven from the United Kingdom, as they were from other countries in the 14th and 15th centuries, as a result of mediaeval anti-Semitism. The first Jewish community in Britain was established in London in the 17th century, and Jews later settled in many of the country’s major towns in the 19th century. Greater London is home to more than half of all British Jews, and nearly all of the rest live in urban areas. Britain presently has Europe’s second-largest Jewish population. Since the 1950s, when immigrants began to bring a wide range of religious views with them, the British heritage of religious tolerance has become even more important. Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism are all practiced by substantial and expanding numbers. Pakistan and Bangladesh had the greatest Muslim populations, followed by India, Cyprus, the Arab countries, Malaysia, and parts of Africa. India is home to substantial Sikh and Hindu communities. There are numerous Buddhist organizations as well.
Reference:
Briggs, Asa , Frere, Sheppard Sunderland , Kellner, Peter , Joyce, Patrick , Whitelock, Dorothy , Chaney, William A. , Ravenhill, William , Josephson, Paul R. , Morrill, John S. , Prestwich, Michael Charles , Atkins, Ralph Charles , Gilbert, Bentley Brinkerhoff , Hastings, Margaret , Spencer, Ulric M. , Smith, Lacey Baldwin , Barr, Nicholas A. , Colley, Linda J. and Kishlansky, Mark A.. “United Kingdom”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Jan. 2022,
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