Creatures of the broken contract

Camouflage fails with a sudden change in background, so soldiers pull on white cagoules.

Scottish mountain hares moult into white coats in autumn , making them far less visible to predators in snow.

High in the Scottish Cairngorms, ptarmigans turn entirely white except for a neat black beak and a red patch of skin above dark eyes.

The changing climate is breaking a contract between figure and ground, between animal and safety.

The floods reminded me that we make the mistake of thinking we are separate from the ground we move upon.

Like the white hares on a muddy hillside, we’re newly defenceless in this world of increasing climate emergency.