6 minute read
Nature
Meadows and time spent in nature
Since the 1940s, the number of wildflower meadows in Britain has decreased by a huge 97%. Around the edge of Dartmoor, some farms are still managed in a way that enables wild flowers to thrive in their fields. In 2015, a number of like-minded people formed an organisation – the Moor Meadows group – dedicated to increasing the number of flower-rich meadows around Dartmoor. This group has encouraged many more landowners to turn some of their land into fields rich in flowers, insects and other wildlife, and some of these landowners open their meadows in summer for others to enjoy. You can join the Moor Meadows group (www.moormeadows.org.uk) and will be kept up to date with events and talks taking place locally. The group also has links to short courses on identification of, for instance, wild flowers, grasses, bumblebees etc. Many people have noticed a big drop in the number of insects in their garden and in the wider countryside. For instance, when was the last time you had to stop the car and clean the windscreen while driving in summer? These insects – bees, bumblebees, moths, butterflies, wasps – are vital for pollinating crops and flowers as well as controlling pests. If you have a garden, you can create a meadow,
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albeit a small one, by leaving your lawn, or part of it, unmown in spring and early summer. This allows some wildflowers to grow – speedwell, self-heal, daisies, dandelions, buttercups, forget-menot, and red campion – and in turn allows the bees and butterflies to flourish. I realise that this may seem a strange idea for many keen gardeners, but why not try it and see the beneficial results. I have been fascinated to watch as a Goldfinch, or a Bullfinch, fed carefully on dandelion seeds. Spending time in nature is good for you. Several recent books have shown the beneficial effect that being out ‘in nature’ has on mental health. The ‘Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing’ lists around a dozen recently published books considered to be the best of current nature writing. Two books on this year’s list are ‘The Diary of a Young Naturalist’ by Dara McAnulty and ‘Bird Therapy’ by Joe Harkness. Both of these books show how being out ‘in nature’ helped the authors to recover. As Dara McAnulty put it, nature became for him ‘a life-support system’. Nature and our connection with it, is under threat, particularly for younger people. The Oxford Junior Dictionary has removed common words about nature – such as
acorn, blackberry and conker – and replaced them with words about the digital age we live in – such as blog, broadband and chat room. How many younger people nowadays can identify common wild fl owers, or butterfl ies, or birds? As a result of our increasing dependence on
technology, many of us spend long hours looking at screens of one sort or another. Maybe we should consider this and perhaps spend a bit more time enjoying the countryside and all the natural beauty that it has to off er? During the recent lockdown, most
of us have had more time on our hands, time to ‘stand and stare’ as the poet William Henry Davies wrote in his poem ‘Leisure’: ‘A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.’ n Anthony John
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