Reminder of different times!

I've been preparing a talk I'm giving tomorrow at Butterfly World - The Rothschilds, Nature Conservation and Butterflies. Naturally it will feature Dame Miriam Rothschild who was instrumental in establishing the nature reserve I look after and carrying out all the early management there. I was leafing through old files to do with the reserve and came across this wonderful telegram among all of Miriam's letters. It was sent to Susan Cowdy, one of the other amazing women naturalists I have been priviledged to know. It points up some striking changes since 1964, not just in terms of technology (though this message was safely delivered overnight - almost as good as email!). It was warning Susan not to mention in an article the gentians and orchids, which largely led to the reserve being set up, but to talk in very general terms about the importance of the site. At the time there was worry (with some justification) about flowers being picked and plants dug up. Even the location of the reserve was kept fairly obscure. Within 25 years the attitude had completely changed and the Wildlife Trust was publicising the special plants and animals we were safeguarding and inviting people to visit and enjoy them. Another 25 years on and we are desperate for people to know about these special places and understand a whole range of different challenges they face now - atmospheric and water-born pollution threatening these fragile habitats, development pressures reducing them to isolated fragments and 'progress' like HS2 destroying sites completely unnecessarily. If only Miriam was still around to shout at people!