This week has definitely demonstrated the best of back to school weather with torrential rain for much of the last day of the holidays and glorious sunshine for the first day back. However of such weather is spectacular rainbows made, and this one, complete with a child's drawing of a cloud in the gap between the trees made me very happy. (You can just about see that this was a double rainbow if you look closely!) Being awestruck by nature doesn't have to be about big skies and dramatic views though, and for me, the last few weeks have been a time to marvel at the tiny things in nature. Out doing a ParkBathe session, encouraging people to choose something to examine in detail using a magnifying glass, I was looking at some lichen on the bark of a tree when the tiniest of tiny red spiders wandered through the scene. As I sat at the side of the motorway waiting for the AA surrounded by a sea of purple rosebay willowherb and listening to the gentle splashing sounds from Evan Water (and the not so gentle rumbling of motorway traffic), more wee red spiders climbed up the steps next to me, and a bright green grasshopper landed briefly before taking off again into the grass. As I have a tendency to say on multiple occasions throughout the year, this is my favourite season! As a person brought up in England I am not sure I will ever get used to school starting back in August, but this time of year is always filled with the promise of a new jotter and conkers.
Since I last wrote a blog we have passed the Celtic festival of Lammas on 1st August, representing the height of summer but also signifying change with the first celebration of harvest. It is often marked by the baking of bread with the first of the grain, the word lammas comes from loaf-mass. I might not have been harvesting grain but I have been making moves towards my favourite harvest. A couple of weeks ago I boldly opened the shell of a fallen conker not expecting anything other than white flesh. Instead I was rewarded with the tiniest of brown conkers. It wouldn't be winning any prizes in a conker fight, but it would definitely win a tiny conker competition. It's on my nature shelf reminding me of the season we're in and of what is yet to come. As I write a seed from a lime tree has spectacularly helicoptered past my second floor window. A couple of weeks ago I stood under a beech tree and was bombarded from above by half chewed beech nuts, thanks, I presume, to the resident squirrels. It's important to pay attention to the details not just the huge mountains, seas and skies.
I learnt a new trick from a ParkBathe colleague last week out at Fernbrae Meadows (note there is a session coming up there at 6pm on Wednesday 21st). One of the invitations we offer people on a ParkBathe walk is to make deer ears cupping your hands around your ears to help amplify the sounds of nature that we might be missing with our sub-optimal human ears. Standing on a bridge over a burn I first pointed my deer ears forwards, and then backwards. I'd been promised that people make the surprised emoji face when they do this exercise for the first time in this location, and it's true! The sound of water is unfeasibly loud when you use your hands to direct the sound of water from behind you. I tried it out with a group on a bridge in Cadzow Glen and was thrilled when they also made the surprised face!
Another exciting discovery for me this month has been pineapple weed! When I received a newsletter talking about this plant that looked a bit like a daisy without any petals but smelt like tropical fruit, I was certain that I had never come across it before in my life. However the frequency illusion is strong and now I am finding it on every walk. It's another flashy nature trick as no one expects a half dead looking daisy to be so fragrant, which makes for a bit of hesitancy as you shove the flower towards their nose. Whilst I'm seeing it everywhere I've not yet found a plentiful crop in a location that would make it suitable for turning into cordial, but the search continues. I've added matricaria discoidea (that's its Sunday name) to the list of plants I can identify although not pronounce, but am always keen to learn more, which is where an app can come in handy. Although it's nice to spend time in nature and away from technology, sometimes your phone can be a real help with plant ID. I found this Guardian article really inspiring - and also rather distracting. It turns out you can lose a lot of time poring over tree maps of New York, or London, or the ancient trees of Lanarkshire. However lost time isn't necessarily wasted time and it's incredible to see the vast number of trees living in a city like New York, helping to reduce pollution, provide shade, support wildlife and prevent flooding, as they do in all urban areas. Greener places also make for healthier happier people. When people are able to see trees or hear birds, feelings of loneliness have been found to fall by 28% according to research, and like the woman in the Guardian article, as you get to know the trees and the plants around you, you become surrounded by friends.
Come and meet some new friends, human and arboreal, at our ParkBathe sessions this month, or if you're a resident of Carluke join us on Wednesday 21st August between 3.00 and 6.00pm at OneSpace in the High Street to talk about your favourite places to walk to in Carluke, and help us to get more people accessing more green spaces by foot.
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