Paying Attention To SMall Lives
My name is Gareth Adams. I pay attention to small lives moving through spaces that were never designed for them.
I spend an unreasonable amount of time standing in a garden arguing with wildlife.
The wildlife is largely unaware we’re having an argument.
Sparrows shout at me from the feeders. Squirrels treat property boundaries as a personal insult. Foxes pass through on important fox business. Hedgehogs appear from somewhere beyond the fences after surviving an obstacle course designed by people who apparently hate hedgehogs.
I also share the place with Jarvis, a tuxedo cat whose commitment to ethical wildlife management varies considerably depending on what moves.
Before all this, I studied biology and then spent nearly thirty years indoors in the life sciences. Meetings. Targets. Budgets. Regulations. Conference halls. Fluorescent lighting. The usual human activities.
Somewhere along the way I stopped paying attention to the living world outside the office window.
This site is what happened when I started noticing again.
It’s about wildlife, nature, mental health, conservation, and the strange relationship humans have with the wild things still trying to survive alongside us. Some posts start with science. Some start with a sparrow, a fox, or a hedgehog. Most end up asking the same question:
How did we become so disconnected from the natural world, and how do we find our way back?
Everything here begins with paying attention.
The wildlife seems to think that’s a reasonable place to start.
If you’d like to get in touch, you can find me on the social media channels linked below. Whether it’s wildlife, conservation, photography, mental health, writing, or just sharing a good story about a bird doing something ridiculous, feel free to say hello