South Downs Ranger diary: Ethan’s view on nature
September 8, 2023
Ethan Purdy, Assistant Ranger for the Western Downs in Hampshire, writes about his love of the natural world and how nature needs space to thrive.
When I was a boy in the South Downs, I was drawn to everything that was wild. Tired, nerve shaken and over civilised I found disappearing into the woodland was like going home. That nature was a necessity. I would wander afoot, I was content. Each night, I had nothing to do but look and listen; to see and hear how smooth and changeless the world became.
How indifferent it was to my presence. Stars would wheel overhead, in our renowned dark sky, and I would ponder on some of the deeper questions my young head could muster. Alabaster cloud mountains would greet me in the morning, a canvas to the sunrise.
‘Do what you love, and you never have to work a day in your life.’ Confucius lived in rather a different world to ours, but his words still ring true.
Stood in a woodland in the rising dawn, with the mist clinging to the floor like a whisper. Similarly, at the end of the day as you quietly stalk around a heathland, straining your ears for nightjars in the gathering gloom. It’s hard to disagree that as rangers, it’s exactly that we get to do; nearly every day.
Within one working day, a ranger may wear many hats… from speaking to landowners and liaising with them, to inspiring future generations doing engagement, working with our tireless volunteers or physically keeping paths and architecture open for the public use. You are a guardian to the space that is entrusted to your care.
It’s often easy to sometimes feel a certain ownership in your own right, to the landscape which stretches out from the coast to the hilltops of our National Park. From boy to man, my office has become the very landscape which I escaped to for solace and inspiration. Of all the work environments I could have picked, I think I’ve done alright.
The views out of all of our office windows are a home for many families other than our own. Each forgotten corner is home to something. And often, it’s those most forgotten corners that harbour the most life. A hedgerow in a back garden and a vista of heathland can equally be important for something, or at the very least, it may be all they can get. It’s a big ask to change our world at large, but it’s the small things we do, with great intention, that make the change we need in this world.
We are a progressing society, and there is a need for more room for more people. However, within this, there’s a space for more than just us. When we inhabit spaces, nature can take a backseat, so it’s a hope of mine that we can all do our part to stand up for the cracks and crevices, empty walls and the dried-up ponds; to make nature.
Re-nature 😊