Editing Gavin Maxwell (section)

==Gavin Maxwell's otter==
[[File:Maxwell's Otter looks over Front bay - geograph.org.uk - 605696.jpg|thumb|Statue of Maxwell's otter at [[Monreith, Scotland|Monreith]] by Penny Wheatley, 1978.|alt=]]
Maxwell's book ''[[Ring of Bright Water]]'' describes how, in 1956, he brought a [[smooth-coated otter]] back from [[Iraq]] and raised it in "Camusfearna" at [[Glenelg, Highland#Sandaig and Camusfeàrna|Sandaig Bay]] on the west coast of Scotland.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1144708197|title=First Flight: Textbook in English for Class X|date=2019|publisher=[[NCERT]]|isbn=978-81-7450-658-0|location=[[New Delhi]]|pages=102–109|chapter=Mijbil the Otter|oclc=1144708197|chapter-url=http://www.ncert.nic.in/ncerts/l/jeff108.pdf}}</ref>  He took the otter, called Mijbil, to the [[London Zoological Society]], where it was decided that this was a previously unknown [[subspecies]] of smooth-coated otter. It was therefore named ''Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli'' (or, [[Colloquialism|colloquially]], "Maxwell's otter") after him. While it was thought to have become extinct in the [[Tigris-Euphrates alluvial salt marsh|alluvial salt marshes of Iraq]] as a result of the large-scale drainage of the area that started in the 1960s, newer surveys suggest large populations  remain throughout its range, though they still remain vulnerable.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Omer|first1=Sawsan A.|title=Evidence for persistence and a major range extension of the smooth-coated otter ( Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli; Mustelidae, Carnivora) in Iraq|journal=Folia Zool.|date=2012|volume=61|issue=2|pages=172–176|doi=10.25225/fozo.v61.i2.a10.2012|s2cid=89831141|url=http://www.ivb.cz/folia/61/2/9_079.pdf|display-authors=etal|access-date=4 March 2014|archive-date=7 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107110220/http://www.ivb.cz/folia/61/2/9_079.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Al-Sheikhly |first1=Omar F.|last2=Nader|first2=Iyad A.|title=The Status of Iraq Smooth - Coated Otter Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli Hayman 195 6 and Eurasian Otter Lutra lutra Linnaeus 1758 in Iraq |journal=IUCN Otter Spec. Group Bull.|date=2013 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=18–30|url=http://www.otterspecialistgroup.org/Bulletin/Volume30/AlSheikhly_Nadar_2013.pdf}}</ref>

[[File:Gavin Maxwell's Memorial - Sandaig (geograph 4113346).jpg|thumb|Maxwell's memorial boulder on the former site of his ''Camusfeàrna'' home]]

In his book ''The Marsh Arabs'', [[Wilfred Thesiger]] wrote:

{{blockquote|[I]n 1956, Gavin Maxwell, who wished to write a book about the Marshes, came with me to Iraq, and I took him round in my ''tarada'' for seven weeks. He had always wanted an otter as a pet, and at last, I found him a baby European otter which unfortunately died after a week, towards the end of his visit. He was in Basra preparing to go home when I managed to obtain an otter, which I sent to him. This, very dark in colour and about six weeks old, proved to be a new species. Gavin took it to England, and the species was named after him.}}

The otter became woven into the fabric of Maxwell's life. The title  of his book ''Ring of Bright Water'' was taken from the poem "The Marriage of Psyche" by [[Kathleen Raine]], who said in her autobiography that Maxwell had been the love of her life. Raine's relationship with Maxwell deteriorated after 1956 when she indirectly caused the death of Mijbil. Raine held herself responsible not only for losing Mijbil but for a curse she had uttered shortly beforehand, frustrated by Maxwell's homosexuality: "Let Gavin suffer in this place as I am suffering now."  Raine blamed herself thereafter for all Maxwell's misfortunes, beginning with Mijbil's death and ending with the cancer that took him at age 55 on 7 September 1969.<ref>{{cite web|author=Janet Watts |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jul/08/guardianobituaries.books |title="Kathleen Raine: Obituary", ''The Guardian'', London, 8/7/2003 |date=8 July 2003 |publisher=Guardian |access-date=2014-06-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Dani Garavelli |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/dani-garavelli-gavin-maxwell-s-love-of-nature-1-3452667 |title="Gavin Maxwell's Love of Nature", Edinburgh, 22/6/2014 |publisher=Scotland on Sunday |access-date=2014-06-27}}</ref><ref name="telegraph.co.uk"/>

Maxwell's ashes were placed beneath a boulder at the former site of his house ''Camusfeàrna''. The boulder marks the position of his writing desk.<ref name=bbb/>