This summer, we launched our Words of the Wild nature writing competition, encouraging people to send us stories inspired by Scotland’s wildlife and wild places. We had a fantastic response, with over 500 entries submitted. Below, you can read the entry from one of our junior finalists, 10-year old Olivia Phillips. We will be announcing the winners of the competition at our 60th anniversary event at the Scottish Parliament on 13 November.

Into the Wild…

by Olivia Phillips, aged 10

I opened my eyes and suddenly I could see a bright light coming from above. I was startled and shut my eyes tight. I felt dizzy like I was rolling over and over being tossed around by an endless whirlpool. I opened my eyes again and saw the same bright light I’d seen the first time. I would not close my eyes this time. I was going to see if it went away. “Is this what life is?” I thought… “I hope not!”

After a while the light started to fade away then it vanished completely. I thought “that was weird!” but I was glad it was gone. Now I could see the white walls of my tank.

I could not see very well, like all Lobsters. We use antennae to feel our way around. I could taste and smell the chemicals in the water. I could taste them because we use the little hairs on our legs to taste.

Suddenly there was this squirter thing coming towards me, it was sucking up all of the little lobsters in its path and squirting them into a jug. I was scared! I tried to swim away from it but the water kept pushing me back towards it, then it sucked me up into the tube, then it squirted me into a jug. When they had got everyone they poured us into another tank with lots of others. I had a good look around and it was the same as the other one, but there were only little lobsters.

Suddenly, I felt really hungry and as if to answer my call all these little squares of food started dropping into the tank. I smelt one right in front of me and I grabbed it and then started eating.

When I had finished and there was no more food left I closed eyes and went to sleep….

I opened my eyes and there was this bright light again, but it faded away after a few seconds. I was now in a square box only big enough to hold one whole lobster. I looked around to see if there was any food but there was not. I realised that the water was not moving like it was in the last two containers. Then all of a sudden little bits of food got squirted into my container. I was so hungry. I ate it all quickly and hoped there would be more but there was not. I looked down and I saw another lobster below me, it was in a container the same size as mine.

I was looking around to see if there was any more food when I realised that I was bigger than I was before. I was a beautiful light blue colour with bigger, stronger claws than before. I thought I must be in the middle stage of growing, because I was smaller than a fully grown lobster, but much bigger than before. I felt tired and I went to sleep…

I woke up and looked around. I was back in the bigger tank. I could feel the water pushing against me, but it could not move me around anymore. That was when I realised I was a fully grown and strong lobster. I had massive claws and they looked strong enough to break through the tank, but sadly they could not and even if they could I wouldn’t be able to because there were these band things around them. I was so hungry. I thought I would look around to see if there was any food, there was not, but there were lots of other fully grown lobsters. They were all the same colour as me, a lovely dark blue colour, so dark it was almost black. I went back to my spot in the corner of the tank. Then food started dropping into the tank I ate them and went to sleep.

I woke up to see a hand reaching down towards me. It grabbed me and lifted me up out of the tank into a box with one other lobster. Then it put a blanket on top of us and I felt much calmer. After a few minutes the blanket came off again and the hand lifted me out of the box. I felt scared. I felt like this big giant was going to make me someone’s dinner! The hand took out their sharp claw things and snapped at my tail. It didn’t hurt but I felt it! It made a V shape in my tail! I tried to swipe back but my claws were tied. Finally they chopped the bands off my claws. Then they took me down some steps to the sea and the next thing I knew was that I was submerged in cold water floating to the bottom of the sea and watching all of the fish swim by. When I reached the bottom I could feel the soft sand on my feet and I could see all the beautiful seaweed with the fish swimming in and out of the rocks. I knew this was where I belonged. This is what life is I thought.

I am now a wild lobster!

Author’s note: The marine hatchery in North Berwick rears, protects and releases over 15,000 juvenile lobsters into the Scottish seas every year. This year I helped out there and released two.

Read the entries from our other two junior finalists:

• Motherhood by Alexandra Yates
• Wild with Grief by Eileen Page