By Sean Fagan
P1070385 - Copy

Being in nature is good for both mind and body. (Photo: Sean Fagan - a male, common blue damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)).

.

.

Fox Cubs & Prehistoric Cave Art...

What's the Connection? 

.

.

While walking late at night through a quiet, suburban street in Dublin city I came across a family of foxes. They were quite tame - and tolerated my wide-eyed admiration with a general air of indifference.

I watched the cubs skitter around playfully on a roadside green for over 20 minutes, being within about 4 metres of them (they often ventured closer).

Lithe and curious - the footfall of these playful, chasing cubs was eerily quiet.

They moved with such precision and grace - seemingly floating above the ground - while their sharp, flitting eyes and alert ears consumed everything around them.

.

I consider it a privilege to be so near wild (non-dangerous!) animals - that wordless connection, which can bind humans with other animal species, borders on the unfathomable and powerful - even ancient.

Whether it’s a modern human, like myself, caught up in an inspired moment with playful foxes - or the beautiful, evocative paintings of wild animals so skillfully rendered upon cave walls by our prehistoric ancestors…

That deep-seated, instinctual admiration of animals by many humans seems to transcend time.

.

I believe it’s within all of us – that admiration of other sentient beings.

To fully activate this often latent instinct, all that is usually required is exposure to nature, preferably sustained exposure.

It’s probably one of the most effective ways of getting people interested in cherishing and protecting wild places and the wonderful beings that dwell within these places.

.

Bushcraft, bird watching, tracking, outdoor photography and hiking are just a few avenues of sustained nature-contact that can soothe, inspire & stimulate (even heal).

Nature can be many things to people, including a place of much-needed revitalization - as the great nature writer, Henry Beston, touches upon in the following quote...

“The world to-day is sick to its thin blood for lack of elemental things, for fire before the hands, for water welling from the earth, for air, for the dear earth itself underfoot".  

.

.
P1070408 - Copy

Master of camouflage - the common frog, Rana temporaria. Although there is only one native species of frog in Ireland, there is a great variety of colour among this single species. Each frog has its own unique pattern of streaks, spots and splurges of green, brown, black, even yellow & white. One fairly consistent colour is that of their eyes - with the iris usually being a fantastic hue of copper with a dense black pupil. Something as seemingly mundane as the colour variation of frogs - when examined closely and patiently -  reveals a small part of a wonderfully diverse and intricate force that is nature itself (Photo & text: Sean Fagan).

.

.

Related articles on this website: