Land's Edge

Wildness starts where the land stops. Writing on British fauna I've recently seen.

The dominion of man is land.

Earth, rock and soil in their many mineral colours and textures; black peat, white sand, iron red rock and brown clay.

Although man can travel through both sky and sea, we are but temprary trespassers. Drawn back to the borders of these places magnetically. The human urge to summit heights, to feel dominion over what we survey is strong. The sea shore too; its coves, reaches and beaches demand to be explored. The toddler squatting to peer into a fractal rock pool is doing what his ancestors have done throughout the epochs.

Mankind evolved in these margins; a hunter, gatherer, picker, scavenger.

Our bordered kingdom is vital. Wilderness sets in upon its liminal edges. Although our waste and avarice have impacted all the realms of life the sky and sea retain ther untamed rawness. Not red in tooth and claw, but free in fin and feather.

Upon the wave stroked rocks, carpeted in caragheen, two sleek saltwater visitors are spied. Ragged furred in summer moult, only a sharp eye can see them. More of their clan encircle the spit on which we stand. Wet heads slide between he waves, shaped like a dark pear and holding still in ever sliding seas. The clumsy, dog-nosed, creatures - sausage like on land - are known as a fast and agile fisher twice the weight of a man. These seals announce where our grip ends and wild power swims past out reach.

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The prodigal raptor has returned. Soaring in our skies again. The kites who picked Tudor London’s bones clean were driven from these shores by change and chemical concentration. But they returned, to their mess of road kill.

The kites, with the outline of a low flying eagle, dominate the air. As man lives along the valley floor they live arced across the valley’s sky. Such a large animal on the wing is always an impressive sight, all the more so when they sit that bit further up the food pyramid so nature dictates they’re fewer in number.

Every hawk, harrier and eagle’s a precious sight, but the sites which hold these recent returners are particularly special. The kites announce where our grip ends and wild power soars past our reach.

Man, earthbound, admires.