My country memories: David Attenborough

An early fascination with fossils drove the great naturalist to explore the British countryside by bike

David Attenborough

'I was always a rotten botanist. At 14 I knew I wanted to be a natural scientist and so my father sent me to see Uncle Harry, a friend of his and a senior lecturer in botany at the University of Cambridge. Uncle Harry took me outside to a ditch where he pointed at a plant, “What do you think that is?” he asked. “Well, it’s a flower,” I replied. “Right,” he said. “And what do you think that is?” he said pointing at a different one. “Well that’s another flower,” I said. Uncle Harry turned to me and said: “You’re going to have to do better than that, David, if you’re going to be a naturalist”. So I went on some of his field trips and learned a few of the Latin names for plants and, although I can get by these days, I remain a rotten botanist.

'The life of plants can be breathtaking and one of the most astonishing things about British flora is how much it is overlooked by us. There is one native variety called the sundew that is relatively common in bogs on the moorlands of north Wales and the Lake District. Its leaves are covered with erect hairs, each of which carries a glistening droplet of a sticky residue on which it catches insects. It was only when I recently filmed one in 3D using time-lapse photography that I truly appreciated its beauty, though.

'Fossils were my first love. As a boy, I’d be out on my bicycle until nightfall; in fact, at 14 years old I’d get on my bike and not come home for three days, staying in youth hostels as I explored the countryside. I had a geological map of Britain and would look at all the wonderful colours and plan my routes in search of fossils. We lived in Leicester, but I’d cycle all over, to the beautiful carboniferous territory of Derbyshire, for example, where I could hunt for coral fossils. I made myself canvas panniers which I attached to my bike, and then would take my huge fossil box to the railway station and address it to the Goods Manager of Market Harborough station (or wherever else I would next be headed), before cycling my way to meet it. Then I deposited my latest finds and redirected the box to my next stop.

'On family holidays I’d always ask if we could stop at any quarries along the way. Everybody would groan, but on one occasion I insisted and, returning to the car earlier than expected, caught my mother emptying out some of the specimens I’d already found along the way. One discovery that stands out for me was a large, very smooth boulder of carbonated limestone on a beach in Penmon, Anglesey, because on its top was a beautiful coral fossil. I spent every day of that two-week holiday chipping off all the bits around the fossil until, by the time we left to go home, I was able to take a lump of rock with me, my treasured fossil at its centre.

'The Manifold Valley in Derbyshire is one of the most magical parts of the British Isles. On one of my bicycle journeys as a boy, I remember spotting a great peak with a naked rock face there which, according to the Ordnance Survey map, was called Thor’s Cave. I left my bicycle at the bottom of the valley and walked up a little bridle path towards the peak, before climbing up inside the cave. There on the floor were stalagmites which, once split open, revealed some incredible insect wings. I will never forget it – there wasn’t a human on earth who’d laid eyes on them before. It’s one of those places that holds an almost storybook quality for me.

 I actually don’t find wind turbines as ugly as many people do. I think it’s amazing how we’ve just accepted pylons marching across the countryside – because we understand that there is a price to pay for everyone in Britain being able to switch on an electric light – and yet turbines are met with such resistance. We need to realise that we’ve reached an energy crisis. People seem to think that you can wave a magic wand and we’ll have all the power we need, but we won’t. I’m a great supporter of alternative, renewable energy.'


Sources: http://www.allaboutyou.com/