August 13th 2008
I remember as a 9 year walking along the banks of the Northumberland’s River Wansbeck ...
ReadMay 23rd 2008
All too often, children today are not given the time by us adults, and therefore have no idea what’s out there.
ReadMay 7th 2008
An early memory is poring over the cards which came free with each packet of Brooke Bonds Tea..... I think at that time I resolved to travel to see such wonders in the future.
ReadMay 4th 2008
But that night, for nights afterward, there was a fox in my bed. Under my bed. In the closet. Once when I was sleepily ...
ReadApril 29th 2008
Maybe it was the endless possibilities that each feature provided that kept our attention, unlike the moulded plastic toys which only lent themselves to one task.
ReadApril 25th 2008
Who can forget the first time they hold a live bird in their hand, being afraid to crush the tiny animal, before releasing it with a ring around its leg?
ReadApril 14th 2008
“I like the garden. It’s green” – Sophie, aged 2. My children love being outdoors but when you are competing with television it is not always easy.
ReadApril 14th 2008
One day I had discovered, when visiting the Natural History Museum of Brussels, that they were selling postcards with very good coloured drawings ( by Mr H.Dupond ) showing all the birds of Belgium.
ReadApril 14th 2008
Minutes alone in the dark seemed to drag and I remembered that it never came into my mind to break my grandmother’s trust and wander away- because I knew I would be totally lost. I was 4 years old, but still aware of the inevitability of the situation.
ReadApril 14th 2008
I think a crucial element of benefiting from more than just the basic freedom to run wild is to have fascinating things drawn to one’s attention so a knowledgeable adult to point things out is a must for at least some of the time.
ReadApril 14th 2008
I was born and brought up in Edinburgh and as such it was a big adventure for me to have a trip into the countryside. I always found the comparative solitude away from city life to be facinating and the further away from people and traffic the better.
ReadApril 14th 2008
Thanks to them, the forests and marshes in the surroundings of my parents home soon held no mysteries to me. This love has never released me and was crucial for the paths I would follow the rest of my life.
ReadApril 12th 2008
The Soviet system had one big advantage - everything belonged to everyone : forests, lakes and rivers had free access and I had plenty of new places to discover.
ReadApril 12th 2008
. I also realise now just how important it was to have a like-minded contemporary – without each other for mutual support, probably neither of us would have bothered to sustain the interest.
ReadApril 7th 2008
These same friends went mountain walking and fishing at the weekends with me and we would go far away for two nights and days using tents and catching fish for dinner and so on. We were about 14 years old when we did that.
ReadApril 7th 2008
When I was 10, on a family holiday walking in the mountains, a scientist uncle introduced me to the alpine flora and fauna and I was hooked.
ReadApril 7th 2008
What I most remember from my early childhood is freedom. I keep that sense of childhood freedom with me still...
ReadApril 7th 2008
My generation grew up with the nature films by the Spanish film maker Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente. Many of the birdwatchers of my age, ornithologists and ringers, recognise that Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente made a deep print on them.
ReadApril 7th 2008
As my parents will testify, my childhood seems to have been a series of attempts to put myself at risk outdoors, responded to by persistent efforts by them to prevent me coming to harm!
ReadApril 7th 2008
I lived with my family for several years in a green paradise; soon after, when we moved to a small town, I used to come back to my beloved village every year for the summer months.
ReadApril 7th 2008
Apart from the dung from a couple of cows, our fields, our pond and our fledgling woodland are ‘unimproved’ but for my family, they are as productive as any fertiliser-laden pasture and just occasionally in spring, we’ll see a lapwing or two.
ReadApril 7th 2008
I remember during several severe winters we had snow-picnics, with sledges and flasks of hot soup and cheese sandwiches.
ReadApril 7th 2008
I grew up in the fifties and early sixties and can remember that nature study was part of our primary schooling.
ReadApril 7th 2008
my early interest in natural history was fostered by my uncle (a science teacher) who took me pond dipping and bird watching.
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