Guardians of Earth’s Diversity and Legacy

Safeguard Our Planet’s Rich Heritage

CÙRA Guardian

Cùra is a badger whose name in Gaelic means ‘guardian’, who lives in TheScottish Highlands and who is very old, very wise and not always to be trusted especially in matters concerning food. His dedication is to preservinghis family – his badger clan, his home and the natural world. He can also be a very good friend when you most need one.

Taken from the character Cùra in ‘Moonrise Over Seven Continents’ part of The Heartstone Odyssey trilogy by Arvan Kumar, published by Allied Mouse and used with permission.

The Picts gave the badger a high place in their beliefs and used the name Brocan, derived from Broc (badger), for their ‘wise men’ before they adopted Christianity. Preceding them the Celts who also termed the badger ‘Broc’ saw them as one of the ultimate embodiments of determination and bravery.

In spirit animal beliefs badgers have several meanings and a constant identity of fearlessness and determination. One role they have been given is that they can pursue and uncover the truth even if it is hidden.

Cùra – Gaelic, ‘guardian’ or ‘protector’, stories from wild Scotland and beyond. When culture, history and science tell the same stories they should be heard.

Photographs – EARTH Red Deer, Glen Garry, Inverness-shire. AIR Arctic Tern, Cromarty Firth, Ross and Cromarty. FIRE Wildfire, Glen Convinth, Inverness-shire. WATER Great White Shark, Dangerous Reef, South Australia

Imagery

Photographs – All photographs used are original and whilst they may have been edited to address minor issues, especially in the case of restored analogue film pictures, no new components or scenes have been inserted using AI or digital means. Any editing will be essentially comparable to standard practices in darkroom printing from the processes of film.

Illustrations – Illustrations may have been produced by contemporary artists or be historically sourced. Illustrations have been chosen to be as accurate as possible where they depict real world subjects. Some illustrations are digital creations and may include the use of AI for which the aim of accuracy for real world subjects also applies.

All imagery is captioned as a photograph or illustration.

Text

No AI generated text has been used on this web site