A sunny day at the end of May – I really should be out birding. Instead I am in a tent at Hay, with an audience eager to find out about my new book – Wonderland. This is, I explain, a kind of ‘Tweet of the Day’ but with all Britain’s wild creatures and plants – or at least the ones my co-author Brett Westwood and I chose to write about.
Actually, what I’m really here for is to continue my secret mission – as an evangelist for nature. Not-so-secret, actually, as when I’m not outdoors enjoying the natural world I spend most of my waking hours telling other people how wonderful it is.
Of course today, at Hay, I’m pushing at an open door. These are my people: those of us who have seen the light, who understand the vital importance of nature in our lives. But what of the rest? The people who couldn’t care less about otters and orchids, barn owls and bumblebees, lemon slugs and lady’s smock, and all the other wonderful plants and animals featured in Wonderland? How can we convert them, before it is too late, and there’s no nature left to see?
I’m not sure I know the answer, but I do know we’ve got to try. And judging from the questions at the end of my talk, the audience shares my passion. They ask about swallows and swifts, foxes and frogs, puffins and parakeets. A young child shyly tells me that his favourite bird is a blue-footed booby, while another confidently tells me about watching puffins on Skomer.
As always when I appear at Hay – and this is my third visit – I come away feeling a sense of optimism. I’ve loved spending an hour with so many fellow enthusiasts – evangelists, even – for nature, and of course for nature writing. In my late middle age, I now teach the new cohort of travel and nature writers at Bath Spa University, and while I am signing books several people come and ask me about the course. I hope they decide to sign up – for if there’s one thing nature really needs, it’s new voices rallying to its defence in these troubled times.
For more information on the MA in Travel & Nature Writing, contact: s.moss@bathspa.ac.uk