On Fri, 4 Jan 2008 07:56:18 +0000, Malcolm
 wrote:

>
>In article <flkjl0$rtj$1$8300dec7@news.demon.co.uk>, buddenbrooks 
> writes
>>
>>"Michelle Masters"  wrote in message 
>>news:Ub-dnYjKoNEI3uDanZ2dnUVZ_hqdnZ2d@giganews.com...
>>>> In article <flih6m$ub2$1@reader01.news.esat.net>, pearl
>>> Showing you that without a single human ever setting foot in Britain
>>> there'd still be areas of open vegetation created by native herbivores.
>>>
>>> Just curious...  What herbivores were "native" to Britain?  Are you 
>>>sure  the herbivores weren't introduced by people setting foot...?
>>>
>>
>>An interesting thought, I guess if you go back to the last ice age, 
>>very few.
>
>After the last ice age, there was a land bridge to the continent of 
>Europe and a lot of grazing animals got here under their own steam at 
>more or less the same time as man, namely Reindeer, Aurochs (or Bison), 
>Red Deer, Roe Deer and Elk, and probably Horse.

Outline at:
http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/channelform.htm

  Ice sheets blocked the North Sea

    By 18,000 years ago, it was the height of the Ice Age.
    
    Ice sheets 1,500 metres thick covered northern Britain and
    much of the Continent.
    
    Sea levels fell considerably because so much water was
    trapped in the growing ice sheets - Map 1 shows that rivers
    of Nord - Pas de Calais flowed either towards the Rhine or
    the Seine.

  Land bridge

    To the south, a "land bridge" between England and France
    emerged as the sea level fell.
    
    There was no-one around to walk across - in the middle of
    the last major Ice Age, early man had retreated to the south
    of France.

  The climate warms up

    10,000 years ago the ice sheets were retreating and melting.
    Rivers again flowed out to the North Sea. Sea levels were
    rising, but still about 50 metres below today's levels.
    
    Early man and animals returned to northern France, and
    crossed to England over the "land bridge" - see map 3. New
    forests and grasslands covered the low land, and plentiful
    game attracted Stone Age hunting groups.

  Sea level rises

    As the world warmed up again, the ice continued to melt and
    sea level rose. 8,500 years ago, the rising sea flooded up
    the river valleys through the hills joining England to
    France.
    
    Eventually it broke through where deeper valleys had been
    gouged out in the Ice Age -see map 4. Swift currents flowing
    between the Atlantic and the North Sea soon eroded the
    islands, leaving the stumps as sandbanks in the channel.

-- 
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in uk.business.agriculture)