Fierce wild animals. Nature’s regenerative powers. Roman forts. And reservoirs.

 I remember a rhyme from my childhood:

Nobody love me, nobody cares

If I get eaten by lions or bears.

I tried to google it but all I found was a poem from 2015 by someone called Shel Silverstein which begins

Nobody loves me, nobody cares,
Nobody picks me peaches and pears.
Nobody offers me candy and Cokes,
Nobody listens and laughs at me jokes.

Oh, and there’s also the old rhyme about “going down the garden to eat worms”.

Anyway, this is all prompted by one of my bugbears: wolves. I read that wolves in a forest area in the Netherlands are causing problems. At least one small child has been knocked over by a large animal, probably a wolf, and another was bitten, with DNA testing proving that the animal that bit her was definitely a wolf. Consequently the Utrecht province “calls on all visitors to be extremely careful when visiting the Utrecht Ridge Hills area”, according to its statement issued late on Wednesday. “The urgent advice is not to visit these forests with small children.”

They had not had wolves in the Netherlands for about 150 years until people started spotting them again in 2015. Experts say that they are elusive and generally avoid humans. Now they’re back. Of course, in mainland Europe wolves can cross frontiers with ease. We are fortunate to be an island and can control which animals run free here. Wolves are beautiful but dangerous! Everyone used to accept that. Think of the fairy tales that feature treacherous wolves: Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs. It’s even there in music. Think of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. And it’s not for nothing that a handsome rogue who has his wicked way with women is known as a wolf and the appreciative whistle (which we now must regard as demeaning) that follows a good-looking woman down the street is called a wolf whistle. 

The Urtrecht province is reported to be preparing a permit to shoot the animal as a result of the incidents, authorities said, and also gave instructions when encountering a wolf: 

“Do not run away but make yourself big, make gestures or noises. Walk backwards slowly”. 

There you go. Now we know what to do when we meet wolves. Now we need instructions on what to do when we meet lions or bears.

Back in September of last year, before there were worse things to get upset about, we all got very agitated by the chopping down of the tree at Sycamore Gap, the gap in Hadrian’s Wall and the tree that featured in the film “Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves”. Now it seems there are positive signs and the stump is sending out new growth. There’s no guarantee that these shoots will survive but they’ve put a fence round the tree stump it to stop clumsy people trampling the shoots and to prevent deer or sheep from eating them. 

I am reminded of some trees at the bottom or our shared garden. Some years ago the owners of the industrial estate beyond the garden insisted that the trees were dangerous and were undermining the wall. They needed to be cut down, they said. We objected but to no avail. The trees were cut down. A year or so later we noticed new shoots growing. Now the trees are taller than they ever were, blocking the view of the industrial buildings once again now that they are in full leaf. So far, nobody has suggested cutting them down.

Nature has a wonderful way of regenerating itself. But we need a lot more regeneration to save the planet.

In Wales it seems that they  have discovered the remains of a Roman fort. Here’s a link to an article about it. 

The artist’s impression of the fort is, unsurprisingly, very similar to the one at Castleshaw, up the road from our house. 

Yesterday my daughter and I walked up there with the two youngest grandchildren. We didn’t actually visit the fort as it’s all covered over again and we knew that our small scientist would be disappointed to see nothing but mounds of earth. Our aim was Castleshaw Reservoir, where the small people hoped to be able to mess about at the water’s edge, as they had done earlier in the week at nearby Dovestone Reservoir

In the event that project too proved a little disappointing. There was no pleasant “beach” area as at Dovestone. 

But we had a good long walk through the fields, seeing butterflies, dragonflies, fish in the stream and a very small frog. 

We even bravely walked through an area with young bulls down by the river!

And then we ended up at our “Pooh Sticks” bridge and the ford by Hull Mill pond. There the small people were able to mess about in the water to their hearts’ content. 

A good day!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!