Five Greatest Joys in Nature

This comes from Roy in England at The Fenland Walker blog. I wasn't tagged, but this is (gasp) a meme that is actually on topic for this blog. How could I resist?

My five greatest joys in nature:

1. Butterflies

You're shocked, I know. One of the things that I worried about when I switched from the biotech industry to the museum world was that I would stop loving butterflies and simply see them as work. It hasn't been a problem at all. I started to learn to identify butterflies when I was 7. They have been companions in the natural world for almost my entire life.

2. Bluff Spring Fen



If any one thing is my life's work, it's my stewardship at Bluff Spring Fen. I was introduced to the Fen by Leon at the very beginning of our relationship. In addition to being a passion in its own right, it is part of the glue that has bonded us together for many years.

3. The Sea The Sea (heading title for Pablo)

I grew up a 15 minute walk from the Atlantic Ocean. I went through a period of genuine mourning for it when I moved to Chicago 30 years ago. My grief was alleviated by my growing love of the tallgrass prairie and of Bluff Spring Fen. Still, 30 years on I still miss the ocean. I think I miss the rhythm of the tides most of all.

4. El Orden de las Solidades (heading title for TR)

The high plains. The desert. The high Sierra or Rocky Mountains. I'm drawn to the wild and lonley places of the American West. I love the silence and the vastness. I love the awareness of my own insignificance while I'm immersed in the wilderness. I always feel grounded and centered when there.

5. Tiger Beetles

The most recent of my five joys in Nature. I was introduced to them four years ago by my friend John from Colorado. I love them because learning about their biology represents a new intelectual challenge for me as I enter the later phases of middle age. They remind me that I need never stop learning.