Do you know the difference between growing up with nature and growing up without it?

 

A path I walk sometimes

I remember an occasion from when I was younger, either my late childhood or early adolescence, out walking with my younger brother. We were walking one of the countryside footpaths in the village where we grew up and, upon spotting a red fox, one of us exclaimed to the other, "Hey! Look! A fox!" We were excited by the sight and couldn't stop ourselves from bursting forth with the yelp of glee. Of course, the fox, having learned from experience that humans prancing and trampling noisily through countryside are something to be avoided, took off pretty quickly.

For a while, it was a joke between us; our response to seeing the fox, this beautiful animal, was to make the sort of noise that would surely send it running. We had been the ruin of our own joy. The thing that had brought us joy, we had sent off with our big bloomin' gobs!

To this day, I have only ever caught glimpses of foxes. Most of my sightings are of the back end of one - that iconic tail! - as it hops into hedgerow or tall grass. For the close ups, I have had to get my fix of foxy beauty from wildlife photographers on social media and episodes of Springwatch.

As an aside, if foxes are your thing, I thoroughly recommend reading Foxes Unearthed by Lucy Jones - you can read about it here!

So, me and my brother made fun of ourselves for having sent this fox running. The sight of this animal brought us excitement and joy. We would have loved nothing more than to watch this animal, and savour the beauty and grace of its presence for as long as possible, but our response made exactly the opposite come into being. What a pair of idiots!

Still though, I have to forgive us; we were young and excited by the sight of this animal. We were thrilled by the fact that after less than twenty minutes walking from our home we could stumble upon this graceful and cat-like canine.

One of my better sightings of the beautiful red fox (Vulpes vulpes)

To try and answer the question with which this post is titled, I would say that growing up with nature has left me with a love for it, and wildlife. These days, I try to contain my excitement and, understanding a little better than I did when I was a kid that wildlife doesn't like noisy people, rather than yelping with glee, I am much more likely to hold my breath and play statue. But that excitement is still there, bubbling beneath the surface. And it comes from having grown up in a village where I could spot deer, pheasants, foxes, hedgehogs, and many other animals in the surrounding countryside. Sometimes, from the windows of our home!

At least for me, growing up with nature has meant much joy and a love that hasn't diminished in all those years, even as other joys and loves have faded and fallen away. I hope that that's a love many others will have the chance to discover long after I am no longer rambling countryside footpaths.

I want to thank you for reading this piece. If you liked this post, you can buy me a coffee on ko-fi - the caffeine keeps me rambling through the countryside and writing about what I find out there! Thank you to all supporters!