If you don’t know who Bob is, then where have you been!? Bob is a red squirrel, helping the RSPB campaign to get nature back on the political agenda.
Although politics and legislation can be difficult to understand, public engagement is vital for saving nature. That's why the RSPB recruited Bob – a friendly face who is not afraid to lead the campaign! Bob is helping the Society to engage with new people and to encourage them to speak up and tell politicians that nature and environmental issues are important to them. Recently, Bob has been very busy campaigning, even visiting Westminster and meeting with politicians. Now, with around 120,819 votes on his website and 1,098 parliamentary candidates pledging their support, Bob's mission to get nature back on the political agenda is in full swing.
Although Bob is a new creation, red squirrels have been interested in politics for many years. After some investigation as part of my PhD research at Cardiff University, I stumbled across this story that I wanted to share with you all.
Around the year 1580 A.D., Marchan Wood, in Denbighshire north Wales was cut down for timber. A local poet called Robin Clidro was a witness to this, and later recorded a very strange sight. A group of red squirrels went to London to make a petition in complaint.
It was Bob’s great-grandmother who was in charge. This old squirrel seemed to have made quite an impression on Robin Clidro the bard:
Odious and hard is the law
and painful to little squirrels.
They go the whole way to London
with their cry and their matron before them.
This red squirrel was splendid,
soft-bellied and able to read ;
She conversed with the Council
and made a great matter of it.
If Robin Clidro can be believed, Madame Bobbe (see image below) spoke to the court in London about what had happened. She explained that the squirrels of Marchan no longer had anywhere to live, and that all their store of nuts had been lost. But it was not just the squirrels that were suffering. Just like Bob today, his great grandmother was worried about the whole of nature. She told the court:
“The owls are always hooting
for the trees, they send the children mad.
The poor owl catches cold,
left cold without her hollow trunk...”
“The chair of the wild cats,
I know where that was burnt.
Goodbye hedgehog ! No cow-collar
or pig-trough will come from here any more.”
Without woodlands, it’s not just squirrels that suffer. Just like Madame Bobbe says in her poem, Tawny owls, hedgehogs and wildcats also all rely on woodland habitat.
Unfortunately, the court did not listen to Madame Bobbe and woodlands continued to be cut down. All the animals mentioned in the poem have suffered. Hedgehog sightings have declined 25% between 2005 and 2011, and they are now considered a UK priority species (PTES, 2013). Tawny owls are in decline too (BirdTrends, 2014), and wildcats may be critically endangered in Britain (IUCN Redlist, 2010).
In 2013 the RSPB wrote a report on the State of Nature in the UK with over 25 other conservation organisations in the country. The report found that 60% of the species it looked at were in decline. Wildlife is in a real crisis.
But Madame Bobbe wasn’t just a voice for animals and birds, she also spoke about humans too. Without the woodlands, local humans became poorly. Our poem saw the link between the natural environment and living sustainably. It promoted sustainable living even back in 1580A.D.
In the end, Madame Bobbe wasn’t able to influence the court she visited, but with your help, today’s Bob can have a much louder voice. Vote for Bob now, and show politicians that they need to listen.
To hear more about animals in medieval texts, you can look at Lee Raye’s blog or follow him on Facebook and Twitter @NaturalHistoryL.