Microcosmic

Alder Leaf - munched by larvae of the alder leaf beetle Last year I wrote a blog piece entitled " why do things look like other things ". Well things are continuing to look like other things!! I'm going to post a series of what I would call "picture essays" if I were very pretentious. As I'm only moderately pretentious I'm calling them "essays in pictures" (that might actually be more  pretentious - ed). A stained glass window is undoubtedly one of those things that it's seen as good to resemble (unlike, say squashed chewing gum or a dog turd). It's a simile that denotes beauty - of a specific kind. The quality that appeals is the mosaic of translucent sections or panels. Every now and then I think to myself - 'that looks like a stained glass window' ....and I like it. Rippling water Wing of the Gold Spot Moth More rippling water Stained Glass window (Salisbury Cathedral)

You quite often hear things like “what’s the point of…” followed by some despised form of wildlife – wasps and slugs are contenders for top of this list. You might as well ask ‘what’s the point of humans’ – I don’t think other species should be viewed solely as things that serve our purposes – they didn’t evolved ‘for us’ – they simply evolved – and like everything else they fit into an ecological ‘niche’. None of us would be here if it weren’t for say - wasps. Imagine a world with an alternative history in which wasps didn’t evolve. The effects would cascade up through the millennia to a present which would be different (to an extent we can only guess at) – humans would probably exist in some form, but I’d suggest that given individuals wouldn’t. Insects aren’t very popular with a lot of people but without insects our ecosystems would collapse – life is interconnected and interdependent. The tabloid press fuels a view of nature as the enemy – with lurid headlines linkin...