Living Legends
One of nature’s most elusive creatures, elves are now a rare sight in UK woodlands. John Wright explains the best way to spot these mysterious little beings
It is always with a profound frisson of delight that I recall my first encounter with an elf. A few days after Christmas 1955, my maternal grandmother took me on an elf-watch. Dawn glimmered only faintly, and it was cold, with frost thick on the ground. We entered the woods opposite our house and, after what seemed like a great deal of walking, found small footprints in the frosty sheen on the path. We stopped to sit quietly on a log and waited.
After 20 shivering minutes, we heard a faint rustling and glimpsed a small figure, barely 38 centimetres high, darting behind a hollow oak. I have been fortunate enough to have seen elves on three further occasions, at least beating my record for ball-lightning, which I have encountered only twice. (Some things it has never been my privilege to see, despite years of searching, notably the cannon-ball fungus, Sphaerobolus stellatus, famous for propelling small balls of spores at eyeball-threatening velocities, and which by all accounts is common.)
ELVES IN HISTORY
Just because you have never seen something does not mean that it does not exist or even that it’s rare. Sometimes things are just elusive. Despite the secrecy of elves, humans have been aware of the creatures for hundreds of years, though most European records go back only to the 10th century. That they were known much earlier is testified in names. Old English Ælfwine (elf-friend), Ælfrēd (elf-advised) and ‘Elgar’ (originally Ælfgar, ‘elf-spear’) make the point well. Earlier still are the names of places. Elvendon in Oxfordshire (the hill of the elves), the Alden Valley (valley of the elves) and Eldon Hill all testify to the existence of elves and, indeed, their preferred habitat types.
APPEARANCE AND ORIGIN
Perhaps because elves are so elusive and rarely observed for long, early descriptions of elves vary considerably. Elves were known as the ‘hidden people’, the ‘huldra’ of Nordic tradition.
Nevertheless, a characterisation of them has developed over time. They are small (zwerg, the German name for dwarf, began life as a synonym for alf, the Norse word for elf), stealthy, magical, beautiful and ambivalent in their relationships with humans (the word ‘elf’ means ‘evil spirit’ in Low German). For ‘beautiful’, we must now go with ‘pleasant in appearance’, and dispense with ‘magical’ entirely, but the few remaining traits are accurate. We now know them to be about 40cm in height, slender of frame and highly secretive in their general habits.
Elves were also considered troublesome, mostly at the level of the occasional purloined chicken. According to Anglo-Saxon medical texts, elves also fired tiny arrows that caused shooting pains in the body – hence ‘elf-shot’ – but this idea derives in part from the frequent discoveries of small Stone Age arrowheads.
Much work has been done on the subject of elves in modern times, but with little in the way of specimens, it has been a difficult task.
Elves are hominims, probably a population that split away from Homo sapiens about 500,000 years ago, destined to lead an existence peripheral to their sister species – us. With so little material and no ‘type specimen’ available, taxonomists (scientists who name species) have demurred from supplying elves with a scientific name. This seems disrespectful to so close a relative, so I hereby declare the elf Homo arboris nov. sp. (‘man of trees’).
HABITS AND HABITAT
The habitat of the elf is woodland and the wilder corners of the countryside. Indeed, one of my sightings was in a part of the New Forest that was well away from both path and car park and another in Wistman’s Wood on Dartmoor, a temperate, oak rainforest that is virtually impenetrable to man. These woods give us the clue to how they manage to elude us so often. Both are famous for their mosses (visually, Wistman’s Wood is entirely moss!) and it is with moss that elves roughly clothe themselves.
Intelligent hominims that elves are, and with skeletal remains almost never found, they are believed to bury their dead deeply, perhaps in disused earths and setts. As to how intelligent they may be, the estimate is that they are comparable to a particularly bright bonobo, with the cunning one finds in the brown rat providing an extra boost to their fortunes.
They may (this is largely speculation derived from their phylogenetic proximity to us) employ a primitive form of language. Speculation it may be, but reports of overheard conversations between elves are frequent in the historical record, and a recent incident in Iceland suggests that they are able to converse with humans. It was, it seems, the urgent matter of a road that was due to be built over elfin territory that prompted this atypical behaviour. Respectful as they are of their fellow hominim, the Icelanders duly accommodated them.
Elves are the ultimate omnivore, hunting small mammals and birds, collecting leaves, roots and fruits, and not hesitating to eat insects and other invertebrates. Overall, this is an excellent diet that we would do well to emulate. They are known to live in hollow trees, often digging downwards to form comfortable quarters, or in disused badger setts (though never those used for burials). In summer, they will hide and sleep under a blanket of moss.
HOW MANY ELVES ARE IN THE UK?
The population of elves in Britain has inevitably proved impossible to measure, with the general estimate being around 5,000 – approximately that of the pine marten and better than that of the Scottish wild cat, with only 400 or so.
A genetic bottleneck (a lack of genetic diversity, caused by a previous rapid reduction in population) has been blamed for the poor reproductive success of elves. Their existence has long been under threat from habitat loss, as ancient woodlands now cover just 2.5% of the UK. Prospects for the elf may be improving, though. Efforts in Britain and elsewhere in Western Europe to rewild and plant more woodland will certainly help the beleaguered creature. Fortunately, climate change is likely to improve conditions, for the European populations at least, providing that the climate becomes warmer.
Shamefully, elves are not on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, nor are they protected under Schedule Five of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, despite the statutory five-yearly opportunity for amendment.
I hope that providing a scientific name for the elf may change this and, overall, my hopes are high for the survival of this charming species. If, like 80% of the British population, you have never seen an elf, then do not despair. Just keep looking in those wild, wild places – and, in the unlikely event of finding yourself in conversation with one, do not mention Father Christmas: elves believe all that stuff is just a myth.
John Wright is a naturalist and forager, and one of Britain’s leading experts on fungi.
He is also Britain’s only expert on elves. Despite their place in popular imagination, especially over the Christmas period, elves are a woefully under-researched field of study.
ELVES IN FOLKLORE AND LITERATURE
Elves first feature in medieval Germanic mythology, as supernatural humanoid beings with an ambivalent attitude to humans. Sometimes helpful, they are also known for stealing milk, tools and, on occasion, children. In Iceland, where about half the population still believe in the existence of the ‘huldufolk’ (hidden people), cultural sites such as Alfholl (Elf Hill) are protected from development, to avoid the displeasure of the little folk.
Although faith in their existence has declined elsewhere, elves have always captured popular imagination and regularly appear in art and literature. So if you can’t spy one in the wild, you can content yourself with finding these mystical creatures in popular tales.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595), William Shakespeare describes the “elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves” as fairy-like creatures, winged and dainty, no taller than a cowslip, able to curl up in acorn cups to hide. The powerful elves of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954), however, are depicted as over six-feet tall, beautiful, telepathic and near-immortal. Based on Norse mythology, Tolkien’s ancient elves love nature and are skilled warriors.
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld elves (1992) are nasty creatures, incapable of emotion and prone to hurting humans, while the elves in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series (from 1997) are a down-trodden, domesticated lot, enslaved by wizarding families to undertake the housework. Freedom is granted only by a gift of clothes (and some even resent the gesture).
Happily, Father Christmas’ toymaking elves are merry helpers. Labouring in the North Pole workshop and delivering presents on Christmas Eve, these industrious workers are usually garbed in green and red, sporting a jaunty hat. This is hardly ideal camouflage against the snow, so they should be easier to spot.
Thus, elves are shape-shifters, changing in look and temperament in different tellings. The one thing they seemingly have in common is pointy ears. So if in doubt, look to the lugs.
WHERE TO SPOT ELVES
The essence of elf-watching is to keep still for as long as possible and place yourself downwind. Dawn and dusk are best. Find them in those secret places, such as dark woods, near large crevices in rocks and alongside streams with overhanging trees – anywhere far from or hidden from humans. However, perhaps they are becoming braver in their habits, almost recklessly so, with credible reports of the ‘urban elf’, perhaps migrating via overgrown railway embankments. So maybe try Surbiton.
1 Wistman’s Wood, Dartmoor
Explore a mossy elven world. visitdartmoor.co.uk/attraction/wistmans-wood
2 The Birks of Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross
Spy elves hiding in the spritz of waterfalls. visitaberfeldy.co.uk/seedo/425-birks-of-aberfeld
3 New Forest, Hampshire and Wiltshire, Godshill is an elf hotspot. thenewforest.co.uk