Issue 41 Small churchesBlog | Finding hope in a time of despair
Finding hope in a time of despair
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 13.12.24
Recently, I was on a wildlife boat trip into the deep Atlantic, west of Cornwall. We were delighting in parties of dolphins and tuna, with thousands of shearwaters feeding on the abundant marine life. Suddenly someone spotted a large moth fluttering strongly over the boat. What was it doing so far from land? Was it lost or in danger?
In fact, it was a Hummingbird Hawk Moth, a migratory species which often crosses expanses of water, visiting the UK from continental Europe. Such long journeys by a tiny insect invoke a profound sense of wonder. Similarly, the shearwaters we saw are incredible seafaring birds. They included Manx Shearwaters, which breed relatively locally in the Irish Sea but spend the winter off South Africa and South America. We also had thousands of Great Shearwaters which breed in the South Atlantic and Corys which breed in the Azores, as well as a few Sooty Shearwaters which have an almost global range. Like the hunting parties of tuna, they have greatly increased in British waters recently.
Seeing this wildlife spectacle stirred mixed feelings. On the one hand, nature’s abundance, diversity, majesty and beauty brought great joy. On the other, I knew it was warming seas driven by climate change that drew more of them to British waters. Whilst some fish and birds can relocate as we mess with the climate, not all species are so adaptable. Plants, amphibians and many others struggle to adapt. Many species time their breeding to coincide with available food, and an increasingly erratic climate causes chaos. According to the RSPB, ‘For seabirds, climate change impacts, predation, lack of food, bycatch in f ishing gear and poorly planned offshore wind developments are some of the main drivers of their declines.’
