The children love visits from the cheeky fox cubs
LORETTO JUNIOR SCHOOL, LOCATED IN Musselburgh, East Lothian, is home to five wild foxes – four cubs and a mother. The school has a beautiful wild woodland area located in the playground, where the five foxes have set up home. The children and staff members have watched these magnificent and curious animals grow up into young adolescents. We’ve quickly learnt not to leave anything out in the playground as the foxes are very cheeky and have stolen numerous soft cricket balls, soft toys, wetsuit shoes and gloves.
Mother fox is very wary of people; however, the young foxes are curious and mischievous, and like to come out and sunbathe on the grass. The children love the foxes and are very good with them, gathering up brambles, apples and pears for the foxes to feed on. When the children are out at play time the foxes come out a lot. The children respect them and keep a safe distance – although the foxes seem to be very friendly, they know that they are still wild animals.
Despite the children seeing them daily, the excitement in their voices when the foxes appear around the back of their classrooms is heartwarming. I was very lucky to capture photos of one of the foxes, using a zoom lens in order to keep my distance and cause minimal disturbance.
Rachel Abbie, via email
Veganism is spiritual
What a great article (September 2022), Gillian Burke – thank you. I get quite fed up of hearing that being vegetarian/vegan is a lifestyle choice and therefore doesn’t merit the same respect as religion. It does feel spiritual to me, and I do feel that in order to make the changes the human race needs to make, we need to understand that choosing nature is indeed a spiritual choice.
People are able to respect those who make huge lifestyle changes for gods they have faith in without proof, yet pull down those who make preserving the planet (which is in very clear and present danger) a cornerstone of their lives.
Thank you for a beautiful article that spells out such important issues with clarity and brings them right into our own back gardens. You explain how even our kindest actions need to be scrutinised because, in fact, they’re just about making somebody rich at the expense of the planet.
Yvette Burfin, via Facebook
Elders in Tasmania
Ben Hoare’s Wild Times piece on birds feeding on elderberries was interesting (September 2022). Elder trees have been introduced to other parts of the world, where some of the native birds have added the berries to their diet. Here in Tasmania, we have elders in our garden and the native silvereyes have joined with the introduced blackbirds and starlings to feast on them.
It’s not just the elders, either. Introduced cotoneasters are also a major source of food for silvereyes. Silvereyes are known to migrate to the warmer climes of Queensland for winter, but some remain in Tasmania. I’m wondering whether the increased availability of food for our local birds may lead to an increase in non-migratory individuals. If I was a bit younger, I’d consider doing a study on this subject myself.
Bob Holderness-Roddam, Tasmania, Australia
Access for everyone
At the Country Trust, we’re on a mission to connect all children with the countryside and nature through educational farm visits, and work hard to include those with special educational needs.
We recently read Ellie May Forester’s article on the lack of access to nature for some people with learning difficulties (October 2022). It raises so many important questions and really struck a chord with us.
Over the past year, we helped more than 18,000 children visit working farms. Some nine percent of these were specifically for school groups with special educational needs. With our expert support, it’s really special seeing children of all abilities access the wonders of the countryside, getting stuck in, sparking new interests and achieving so many firsts.
At a time of climate crisis, it’s more important than ever that nature is accessible to everyone, regardless of their needs.
Jill Attenborough, CEO of the Country Trust
Thylacines are needed
Twenty years ago, when I was 12, I won a school science-writing contest. My story, like James Fair’s news article (October 2022), involved thylacines (also known as Tasmanian tigers) being brought back from extinction via DNA cloning.
As a born and bred Tasmanian, I’ve been fascinated by these animals all my life. My grandfather, an experienced bushman, told stories of hearing their calls out in the wilderness while hunting (which continued long after 1936; the year ‘the last one’ died). My mum’s partner, a commercial fisherman with no time for nonsense, speaks of numerous fishermen, including himself, witnessing an identical animal at remote Point Hibbs on Tasmania’s west coast.
I respect the work of wildlife conservationist Nick Mooney, and understand his argument (on a scientific level) that the thylacine isn’t needed – but I disagree. It is needed. Not just because it’s a beautiful, unique animal, but because it represents hope. Hope that sometimes, against the odds, a species can emerge triumphant and Mother Nature can win out over human destruction.
It wouldn’t be the worst thing if thylacines returned. Though, if you asked many Tasmanians whether thylacines should be brought back, they would probably laugh and relate a story on how they never truly died out, and that you can’t bring something back which never really left us after all.
Rowan MacDonald, Tasmania, Australia
The return of the macaw
The article on the return of Spix’s macaw (Wild Times, September 2022) to its old habitat in Brazil had me in tears of joy. Years ago I was given a book by Tony Juniper on the disappearance of the last pair of these birds, and it made me weep. A good-news story in the field of wildlife conservation is always so heartening.
Your magazine has been such a joy to me for over 45 years, and still is, every issue.
Anna Baggallay, via email
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