Wild June moves into Day 5 and I’m spoiled for choice again. Shall I write about the swallows above the meadow? Or the hare in the garden? We saw each other at the same time and we both froze, holding a 15 yard stand-off for a full minute. Or perhaps I’ll turn to the butterflies that –
Tell me: is it wicked to enjoy such things in a time of devastation, after the horrors of Manchester have been followed by the horrors of London Bridge? Of if not wicked, is it not infinitely trivial, lacking in all seriousness, to bother with nature at times of random urban murder?
I did a piece for The World at One the other day, on the drastic decline of lesser sported woodpeckers. They put it on right at the end, cheerily describing it as “light relief”. I was a little surprised that extinction is now light relief, but I said nothing; I was glad to say something I thought worth saying on a damn good programme.
All the same, I really don’t think that the future of the planet is light relief. And I don’t think that it’s trivial to discuss that subject, even when we’re preoccupied with more immediate horrors. The environment is something that we all have to live in: our health, our happiness and our future are tied up in it, and so are those of our great-grandchildren.
The environment doesn’t become irrelevant, no matter how disturbing recent events have been. Swallows are useful indicators of the health and long-term viability of the planet we live on, being good monitors of pollution. The future of swallows is inextricably linked with our own. Swallows mattered before the events of the weekend, they matter today and they’ll matter even more tomorrow.
And then there’s the matter of consolation. Nature, the wild world, the non-human world, greenness, birdsong, running water, wildness and wilderness and weeds under swallow-filled skies: these things make life better, not just for bird-spotters but for everyone. They’re part of good times. But just as important — perhaps even more important – nature can also make life less bad.
Nature helps us to endure the terrible things in life just a little more easily. Nature makes life better on our good days; nature stops life being worse on our bad days.
Nature is not a pat solution to horror, grief, loss, terror and hopelessness. But we need nature to make us happy, we need nature to keep us safe and we need nature to console us. We need nature because life is wonderful and we need nature because life is terrible.
We need nature.
Such a beautiful commentary and so very true
Thank you Simon.
Thank You Simon. As always, spot on.
Yes, nature as consolation, but altered for me now, in these terrible times, by empathy. When gazing at a beautiful feature of nature I now feel a surge of sadness for those deprived of this one life. But the cyclical continuum of nature certainly affords an anchoring point to those of us fortunate enough to greet another day. Perceiving order amidst chaos is very alluring and comforting.
Bravo Simon, and thank you. Nature is what life’s all about.
I enjoyed that very much, thank you ,certainly enjoying birds and nature helps me, and its wellness is ours, we may have lost our lesser spotted woodpeckers here (in Jersey) will keep looking.
Lovely piece in somber times. Last week, my partner watched a mink systematically raid the Sand Martin nests in the river bank bordering Ilkley Golf Course. The birds were flying around in great agitation. The next day the golf club covered the bank and nest holes with a large tarpaulin. I felt a sense of shock and horror at this act of environmental terrorism.
I love both your blogs and Eddies blogs, please keep up the good work raising awareness of our planets destruction. It is so important to do this.
Yes to all you say and write. Your posts are great and so are Eddie’s
What a pity this isn’t point one of all the parties manifesto’s for without a habitable planet what good is anything else. Great thought provoking piece.
No,it is not wicked to enjoy the nature that you have all around you, just as it is not wicked that you feel by telling us about that nature that the wickedness that does exist will be defeated. Please keep telling us about the wildlife that you obviously enjoy and allow me to enjoy it also.
Nothing trivial surely about wondering about beauty, love, nature, compassion. Watching swifts (no swallows among them yet) diving like fighter jets outside our windows or slow -witted pheasants dandering across our road in spite of “light industry” like a gin distillery springing up nearby, makes me wonder about their daily lives. At night, thanks to an app telling me where to look, I can even view the international space station,
something entirely different, but still to be looked at in awe.
This is a majestically moving and thought-provoking post. Thank you
Thank you Simon for your article on hedgehogs in Guernsey. I wish we had fewer predators here in mainland Britain. Am I the only person in the world who thinks we have too many birds of prey – why do we need more/
We have too many badgers – why do we need more. These two are destroying our small birds and hedgehogs
and leverets and lapwings. Can’t anyone see that?