Education and Magpies

 

Bedford's riverside paths are beautiful, unfortunately marred here and there by rubbish. (Photo from personal collection)

The other day, I strolled a path in the town centre. When I heard the call of Swifts (Apus apus) my attention was drawn skyward – I am awed and amazed by these birds. Their streamlined bodies pierced through the air above. Their calls seemed the cries of enduring life. That an animal so small can undertake the journeys they have and face the challenges they do is worthy of admiration. So, yes, when I heard the cries of swifts high in the sky, I stopped and watched them passing over. Like some might watch aeroplane displays, I suppose.

When my attention came back to Earth, my gaze was caught by something less wonderful. A scruffy man pissing against a wall; he was not concealed in any way, there were no bushes or barriers around him. He just stood there splashing piss against that old red brick wall. And that fairly sums up my experiences of this town. I stare skyward at swifts, and find myself feet from the pooling piss of a man. I walk the riverside and wonder at the birds and flowers, and find myself staring also at plastics and metals floating by. I look into the branches of a tree as I stroll, and look down just in time to avoid a small pile of shit. 

Oh. I do hope I am not becoming a misanthrope. But it is hard not to be drawn sadly towards pessimism and anger some days. All the noise and mess that some of us leave behind. And as I am drawn to green and wilder places for a little peace and pleasure, I see that others are drawn there to drink and smoke and fornicate. I see that by the evidence left behind. But, obviously, I am just a visitor to these places, and it is the wildlife that lives there that really faces the challenges we present them, with our lack of consideration and laziness. Some days, I fear there is an unbridged gap between ourselves and these green spaces. Some days, I see hope.

Wilder places – take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints. (Photo from personal collection)

In April of this year, it was revealed that a new natural history GCSE would be added to the school curriculum (The Guardian – New natural history GCSE to focus on protecting the planet). An option I would have excitedly pursued had it been available when I was at school.

Then there are those wonderful home schooling parents who make nature, wildlife, and ecological learning very much a part of their children's education. 

Unfortunately, there is still much old fear, wrapped up,  I believe, in the unknown and misunderstood, that is passed on to children. To be wary of spiders that do not bite, or hateful of animals tarnished by old folkloric beliefs, or scared of mysterious woodlands rather than intrigued. Education in natural history might, hopefully, wash away some old fears and cultivate respect in its place.

So far, the only thing I can see wrong with the natural history GCSE option is that it wasn't available twenty odd years ago. But, aside from my own personal "what-could-have-beens" and "if-onlys", steps like this one seem greatly significant. Not only because it will offer children the opportunities to learn in more detail about their world and the lives they share it with, but also because it speaks to greater future changes in the job market.

It follows that, as education allows these opportunities for greater consideration of our natural world, the careers of tomorrow will be more conservationist and environmentally focused. Our society is still very much driven by making money and concerns about the economy. And so, if future jobs are all about caring for nature, rather than exploiting it, that can only be a good thing. It's a win-win if conservation and green jobs make money, right?

Magpie (Pica pica). (Image source: rspb.org.uk)

When I consider that gap that currently exists between ourselves and the natural world, I think of the magpie. I often see this corvid vilified across social media. Indeed, aside from foxes, it seems to be the animal which most provokes violent response.

Some how, this bird finds itself blamed for the dramatic falls in the populations of  songbird species. Despite studies which reveal magpies have little to no effect on songbird numbers (undertaken by British Trust for Ornithology, cited here by the RSPB, who commissioned this study), they are still made villains. And this "fact" of their being evil predators of our small birds is often used to justify the point of view that they are nothing more than vermin.

Magpies, like other corvids, are intelligent and adaptable birds. Perhaps that is why we dislike them. But they, again like other corvids, have been carrying the weight of our judgements about for centuries. Magpies, crows, and ravens are larger dark birds, not above picking at a carcass. So, they have been associated with death. Therefore folklore has painted them as gothic birds of death. And, yes, we do not like the smart and adaptable animals, the ones that can make their homes easily in our own spaces – we often label them pests or vermin to justify our destructive desires towards them. Easier that than consider our own behaviours and habits, I suppose.

When I hear the harsh cry of a magpie from some tree, I stop and consider it as I do other birds. And I think them beautiful as I do other birds. Just common sense dictates that they are not murderous mass exterminators of our songbirds. They have not mutated and evolved in the last fifty years, nor have they stumbled upon much more efficient methods of predating smaller birds. However, we, human beings, have been intensifying the ways in which we manage land; we have been cutting down trees and planning our infrastructure without consideration for nature and wildlife; and, we have fragmented natural spaces. All this has most definitely presented our songbirds with major challenges that have contributed to their significant declines in the last few decades. 

I hope that an education system which considers our natural world will blow away some of those old and silly fears. I hope that it will bridge the gap that has been developing between ourselves and natural spaces as we have focused our attentions on money making. I hope that future money making will be done through guardianship of the natural world, rather than its exploitation. I hope that a respect for this planet will be rediscovered. I hope that plastics and metals floating in rivers become a less common sight. Yeah, I hope . . .

If you have made it through this slightly meandering piece about where we are now and where education might take us, I thank you for walking this path with me. Just before you go, would please consider supporting this blog with a coffee from ko-fi.com.

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