Nick Adams's Letter

To my grandchildren, Ruairidh, Lachlan and Keir,

You are delightful, inquisitive children, just old enough to take delight in the natural world. You are remembering names like red campion, eggs and bacon, and dandelion; pick out a blackbird singing and chase butterflies across the garden. On our holidays you play on the flat sand cleansed and smoothed by tides where seas know their boundaries and where all number of marvelous creatures can be found. You live in a world where there is enough and more for all, if only we could learn how to share. But above all, you can have the innocence of childhood where nature is thriving.
My hope for your future is that in your seventh decade all this is still possible. That creation still flourishes and that we have learnt that our wellbeing is inseparable from that of the wider world and all it's dependents. I hope that your grandchildren will still hear a wood warbler, watch ospreys fish and sparrows sing on our roof corners. And that your passion for everything grows and grows and your wonder never ceases.
I hope that you and your generation can learn to cherish what we have and will be tireless to protect and enhance it as we are learning to do.
You and your future are my motivation to do what I can. I hope that I have served you well.