Why humans need to rediscover a sense of wonder at nature and its diversity before we destroy it all – and where to find inspiration
- The awe that nature evokes is one thing we cannot put a price on, and it is something we humans, urban creatures far from the wild, urgently need to rediscover
- The threat of mass extinctions is real, but it’s not too late to rekindle that wonder – whether by experiencing it or reading the words of others who have
A tornado of falcons is something to see. Many years ago, I watched six young peregrine falcons whip themselves into one over a lake in the Canadian wilderness. Back then, peregrines were at risk of extinction from decades of chemical pollution. I worked for three summers releasing captive-bred young ones back into the wild to help save the species.
Peregrines – called shaheen falcons in some parts of Asia – occur on almost every continent and are the planet’s fastest-moving animals, diving through air at speeds exceeding 350km/h (215mph). The six I witnessed were hurtling themselves, bullet-like, at a lone kingfisher over the water. Each dropped in turn, repeatedly streaking down and rising up, forcing the kingfisher, again and again, into the sun-startled lake. The exhilarating scene left me awestruck.
In 1967, an unknown British office worker named J.A. Baker published his own chronicle of watching these amazing birds. His book – called, simply, The Peregrine, and reissued in a 50th anniversary edition in 2017 – is regarded as among the great nature writing of the last century.
Baker considered it a kind of eulogy: “Few peregrines are left, there will be fewer, they may not survive […] Before it is too late, I have tried to recapture the extraordinary beauty of this bird and to convey the wonder of the land he lived in.”
