I have been doing a bushcraft course, with the assessment weekend coming up fast. One aspect of the course is natural history. We have had to learn to identify trees and woodland plants, as well as animal tracks and signs. Out and about in parks and in the countryside these past six weeks, armed withContinue reading “Identity”
Tag Archives: ecology
Climate Action
I say I hate meetings, but I seem to spend a lot of time at them and prioritise them in my diary. I suspect that’s because I secretly like them. There’s something about being on a committee that makes me feel important. I like being with people, too, especially if they’re my friend or ifContinue reading “Climate Action”
Time To Cycle
125 cyclists stopped over in Brighton on Sunday evening. They arrived late afternoon at my church, Brighthelm, where there was a reception for them, a meal and overnight accommodation. Most were cycling from London to Paris, to arrive there at the end of the COP21 climate summit. Like the other pilgrims (see my last post,Continue reading “Time To Cycle”
Paris
It was a humbling experience to be in Paris last weekend when pilgrims arrived from all over the world. I had walked with the UK ‘Pilgrimage2Paris’ group for a day, between Burgess Hill and Brighton, and saw them off along the south coast the next morning. It was great to see them again at theContinue reading “Paris”
Multiplication
Light-bulbs are boring. Carbon emissions are boring. Reducing your footprint is a worthy aspiration, but it’s reductive, it closes down and diminishes. It’s putting the cart before the horse. Carts are boring. You can jazz them up, but it’s still a cart. The interesting bit is the horse at the front – that living beingContinue reading “Multiplication”
Front Gardening
This is only the second front garden I’ve had. In the last house, the back was so large I just kept the front as lawn. Here, though, the back is small and quite shaded; also I want to leave enough space out there so that the tent can be put up to dry if weContinue reading “Front Gardening”
Meat Is Murder III
My daughter and I have been abstaining from the flesh of dead animals since Christmas. For me, it’s at least my third attempt to be vegetarian, but it feels more serious this time. Here are my reasons: – Eating meat or fish requires an act of violence to be carried out against a living being.Continue reading “Meat Is Murder III”
Blank sheet garden
This is our new back garden: It’s a bit of a dump, isn’t it? The builders have trodden a lot of the grass into the soil, which seems to be a heavy clay, heavily compacted, very muddy. If you’ve seen my previous gardening posts, (e.g. Garden, from 2012) you’ll see that this new garden isContinue reading “Blank sheet garden”
Autumn weeds
Hogweeds (cow parsley?) tend to take over the wildlife reserve that is the end of the garden. In the spring, I cut them down twice, but they were very determined and kept growing back, so I let them be. In the summer, the flowers were visited by lots of different insects. While enjoying my earlyContinue reading “Autumn weeds”
Why don’t I get out into the countryside more often?
On Monday, it was my day off. My older son (just back from university for Easter) and I set out on our bikes. We went down to the sea-front, along the eastern arm of Shoreham Harbour and crossed at the lock gates. At Shoreham, we turned up the old railway line, now a trackway, andContinue reading “Why don’t I get out into the countryside more often?”
Alex Mabbs 