I was reminded of this time by one
of the many animal stories I read last week. There was Larry the 10 Downing Street
cat, who was filmed joyously playing with a mouse he had caught. Not bad for a 19-year-old
cat! Then there was the hoax story about Jonathan, the world’s oldest tortoise.
Jonathan is 193 years old, and last week it was claimed he had died.
Thankfully, he was found under a tree, fast asleep, enjoying the sunshine. However,
it was the story of the Hothfield Heathlands Highland cows that really struck
me.
Like the herd in Scotland, they were
at the nature reserve to revive and maintain the grasslands by wild grazing. Unfortunately,
the cattle had to be removed as they had become ‘distressed’ by people
trying to film and take selfies with them. It was a consequence of a Tik Tok
post that went viral. This breed is over 1000 years old, and here they were
being stressed out by the impact of social media! Just like humans, when stressed
and under pressure, cows will become distressed, and can show real changes in their
behaviour.
While not wishing to
anthropomorphise (attributing human emotions and feelings to animals), I do believe
that animals, in their own way, react to changes in much the same way we do. You
might well have recently seen videos of cattle being let out of their winter
quarters and kicking their heels, as they run out to the green fields. I defy
anyone to not think they were happy and pleased to be out in the fresh air once
more!
We had a similar experience with
our hens last week. Over the winter, they live in their house, which has a
large covered outside run attached to it. This protects them from the weather (and
foxes), but allows them to enjoy the fresh air. Last Monday for the first time
since December, we opened the poop hole to their outside grassed area, a run
shared with the goats. The older hens were straight out, scratching the ground
for worms and bugs, running around flapping their wings and appeared to be really
enjoying themselves.
Three of our hens and this year’s
cockerel, Chick Jagger, all hatched during the winter months, appeared
highly suspicious of the poop hole. For a long time, they refused to go through
it and join the other hens. Chick Jagger seemed incensed that his ‘girls’
had deserted him and he couldn’t get to them. He crowed, flapped and tried every
which way to bring his hens back into the covered run with him. They weren’t
having it. Eventually, he bravely stepped through the poop hole and peace and quiet
was reestablished.
The goats seemed happy the hens
had reappeared and once again they could chase them around. The hens dodged the
goats’ attempts and enjoyed dust bathing and picking at the grass, all the while
making soft cluckling noises. Willow and Clemmie came to view the new arrangements,
but being cats, they soon appeared to lose interest and returned to their slumber.
Dylan, being Dylan just ran around excitedly barking – but that’s his usual
response to any change. Billy, the parrot, was inside the house, and as he’s perpetually
happy, didn’t seem impacted by seeing the chickens roaming outside once more.
Now there is a lot of evidence
that shows there is a direct relationship between accessing nature and improving people’s mental
health and wellbeing. This might include walking on the beach or in the hills,
gardening or simply just sitting in the sunshine on. It works for me, and I’m
sure for many others. If I need to think through a problem or come up with a
plan, I go for a walk. A long walk will brighten my mood, makes me feel good,
and refill my mind’s resilience store. Getting out in the garden and getting
dirt under my fingernails gives me a huge sense of satisfaction. Now although I
have no science to back it up, the ‘evidence’ from my week last week appeared
to show all living things might benefit from being in, and being part of nature.
*with apologies to Sigmund Freud