I often find myself bemoaning the UK and it’s various problems, in the way that only a native can do. Society and politics aside, I find myself increasingly interested in the natural history of our land. I have fallen in love with my local Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park and will often spend hours walking there. I find there is always something new to discover in seemingly well known ‘natural haunts’! I am excited about the growing ‘re-wilding’ movement here. The recent developments in the campaign to reintroduce the Eurasian Lynx to parts of the UK are something we can be proud of. I believe there is something wild in human beings as a result of our being animals, and of our part played over thousands of years in Darwin’s described process of “the survival of the fittest”. We can’t erase this and nor should we try to. We evolved with wild animals for the vast majority of our time here as a species. We fought with them, nurtured them, domesticated them, were inspired by them. Now we have lost many animals and much of the habitat with which we were, and are, evolutionarily accustomed. I think we are suffering a deep instinctual yearning for wildlife to be in our midst once more, and for our connection to the natural world and it’s beauty to be rekindled. We are truly lost without these things!