There is an increasing inability of people to actually see what does exist in our midst. Miles said he hadn't seen a salamander for a long time. I said that I see them almost every time I look. The point is that we are steadily losing our ability to see the natural world in which we live and that without that skill, species will just continue to disappear without our noticing.

How many people have picked up a yellow-spotted millipede and smeeled the sweet almond smell of it's defensive mechanism? How many people know that most of the wildflowers in bloom in Crippen Park are actually invasive alien species? Where have all the (wild)flowers gone?

Did we even notice?