Natur Cymru

In his autobiography On My Own Terms, John Seymour traces many of his lifelong obsessions, such as his deep affinity with country people, to early childhood. His many subsequent books, including the classics of self-sufficiency, trawl this youthful territory in one way or another.

Early memories can be so vivid, it is as if you can taste them; in my case, some of the sharpest ones involve close encounters with nature when staying in a cottage on a glorious common in Pembrokeshire. Books can similarly light up that part of the brain we call the imagination; and this John Seymour’s books, starting with The Fat of the Land, managed to do for me.

I have been re-reading his books, some with Sally Seymour’s exquisite illustrations, and appreciating anew the values underlying John’s, at times, fearsomely opinionated and incurably romantic free spirit, as well as all that hard-won practical knowledge. It is a privilege to be able to publish his last thoughts, along with a moving account of his life and legacy.

One of John’s many campaigns was for the preservation and restoration of canals. Happily the Montgomery Canal has survived as a haven for wildlife and for leisure; not that it has all been plain sailing, as we report here. 

For many years, and at the end of his life, Pembrokeshire provided the crucible for his love of nature and of the crafts by which natural resources take shape in human life. Behind his small farm was a hill cloaked with ancient wood, and topped with open, boulder-strewn heathland. This heath features in an account of how Tycanol is recovering from a gorse and bracken embrace.

Not long ago, a box of matches might have provided a suitable remedy for overgrown heathland. Now a manager has to think twice before setting a heath ablaze, sending acrid smoke and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Beware a local solution which adds to a global problem. Air pollution poses great dangers, not least nitrogen fallout. As we report, it is as if some giant fertilizer spinner in the sky is showering us with unwanted nitrogen, impoverishing our best wildlife habitats in the process.

Behind serious threats like this are often stories of dedication and delight. It has taken both to reveal the numbers of porpoises feeding and travelling around the coast of Anglesey; and it is good to know that the next generation is thrilling to these sea mammals, and helping their cause.

James Robertson