It was so heartening to read Patrick Barkham’s report (29 December) on Sir David Attenborough’s latest TV documentary, Wild London. For the entirety of my life, Sir David has been a source of inspiration.
“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds,” the late American ecologist Aldo Leopold once wrote. For many of us who work daily in conservation and nature recovery, these words sadly ring true, and it can sometimes be hard to find the energy to stay positive.
The magic that Sir David brings to us is his continued sense of wonder and passion for the natural world. That in itself is perhaps his greatest lesson. Despite the continued decline in biodiversity and our own hectic lives, we should all take a moment to observe and appreciate the world around us.
Most of us will never travel to the places that Sir David has been to in his life, but we can all learn to take pleasure in the nature that surrounds us, from the fieldfares cackling every morning outside my window to the robin that follows me around the garden and the return of migrants in spring.
Yes, nature needs our help. Yes, it is in decline. What Sir David so eloquently reminds us, though, is that we should never take it for granted or allow ourselves to forget that sense of pure wonder.
Pete Etheridge
Sway, Hampshire
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
