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Sunday 30 July 2017

How to get back in touch with nature

The UK is 'among the most nature-depleted countries in the world':
Futures Forum: We're losing touch with nature

Guardian correspondent Patrick Barkham suggests how we can reconnect with nature - and having a child around seems to help:

Butterfly on the steal


My five-year-old daughter has a butterfly net. “I’m fed up with boring old meadow browns,” she declared this morning. “I want to catch a fritillary.” Butterfly collecting is about as socially acceptable as smoking in a tube carriage while refusing to vacate your seat for a pregnant woman. It’s also illegal to catch rare species. So her net-work is closely monitored to ensure she releases everything unharmed and doesn’t wield her net beyond our garden. Bizarrely, a few oddballs still collect butterflies. Last week swallowtail caterpillars and their rare foodplant were stolen from Hickling Broad nature reserve, near us. My daughter has an alibi – school – but I hope the net closes in on the man (it’s always men) who hasn’t.

Watch out, beavers about


‘Beavers are herbivores that move through the water with the tranquility of cows grazing a meadow.’
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 ‘Beavers are herbivores that move through the water with the tranquility of cows grazing a meadow.’ Photograph: Nick Upton/naturepl.com/PA


One hot new summer holiday activity is beaver-spotting. I joined families last week gathered at dusk by the river Otter, where beavers are thriving in a Devon Wildlife Trust trial to assess if they should be permanently returned to England. No one knows anything about beavers – “Do they eat fish?” everyone asks – and that’s fine, because they haven’t lived here for around 400 years.
Otters are on this river too, but they are no fun: you catch a fleeting glimpse of these elusive carnivores at best. By contrast, beavers are herbivores and move through the water with the tranquillity of cows grazing a meadow. Baby beavers (kits) paddle like aquatic guinea pigs.
There’s some concern over hordes of beaver-tourists but if I were a local business, I’d beaver about offering parking, postcards and cuddly representations of these adorable, easy-to-enjoy wild animals.

Here’s why every capitalist should connect with nature | Patrick Barkham | Opinion | The Guardian
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