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Health & Wellbeing Delightful dancing demoiselles bring so much colour and joy

During an exceptionally hot day, I decided to walk down by the river in the hopes that just my imagination of the cool running water will ease the effects of the high summer sun. There is hardly a breath of wind and the River Stour is flat and glassy with only faint undulations of current. The swallows dip low over the river scooping a drink as they rise. Noisy reed warblers chatter from the margins, and tiny insects, on breaking the surface tension, send out wide concentric circles that slowly dissipate towards the banks. Grasshoppers, gatekeepers and meadow brown butterflies grace my feet as I momentarily sit to absorb this bustling kaleidoscope of life. Then along come the beautiful demoiselles. Wisps of metallic blue and green sprites whisper past me, elegantly and gracefully dancing from perch to perch in a flamboyant aerial display. Beautiful demoiselles are one of our largest damselflies. They are usually found following shallow streams or rivers, and decorating wet woodlands. The male of the species has dark-coloured wings and metallic bluegreen bodies whilst the females have brown wings and green bodies. They are smaller and more delicate that dragonflies and can be distinguished from their cousins by their thinner abdomens, wings that are closed at rest, and eyes that are separated rather than joined. Like dragonflies, they belong to the insect order of Odonata, and have been on earth for more than 300 million years, predating the dinosaurs. Fossil remains have revealed magnificent giant species with 60cm wingspans. As they dance around the riverbank, I recall the time I watched a dragonfly nymph climb up one of the flag irises in my pond to begin its miraculous transformation. For anyone who has witnessed this, it is a slightly uncomfortable yet compelling process to behold, as the dragonfly slowly emerges headfirst out of their nymph body, pushing out and extending their long wings that hang beneath them. When these fine gossamer wings have expanded with haemolymph (insect blood) and their globular compound eyes furnished with thousands of lenses, they stretch out to dry and then they fly away leaving their empty, ghostlike, nymph carcasses clinging to the vegetation. Because of this incredible circle of life from air to water and back again, dragonflies and damselflies symbolize wisdom, change, transformation, light and adaptability. Most of all, they have brought colour and joy on this steamy hot summer’s day.

Dr Susie Curtin curtin.susanna@gmail.com

New Blackmore Vale, August 6, 2021 Health & Wellbeing Stress is good for you... to a degree

Alice Johnsen is a life coach based near Sherborne. 07961 080513 alicejohnsen.co.uk

Are you stressed enough? That sounds a bit odd, coming from a coach who helps people reduce and manage stress, but hear me out. A bit of stress is actually good for you. It helps you focus your attention and energy on a specific task - be that a problem or an opportunity. Stress keeps you moving forward. It’s the adrenaline and cortisol rush that switches us to total focus, quick reaction mode. That said, too much of a good thing becomes, well, a bad thing. The accumulation has effects ranging from inconvenient to life threatening. Because this can build up to be a serious rather than unpleasant issue, I spend a great proportion of my coaching looking at clients’ causes or sources of stress. I talk to children in schools from 11 years up about stress - what and why it is, what happens we feel it and most importantly, what 11 year old children can start doing to manage the stress in their

lives. Start the good habits early so by the time they’re out in the big wide world they are managing stress effectively without really thinking about it. How do you manage or get rid of the stress in your life? There are lots of different ways of doing this and hopefully you will have your own tips and tricks. It doesn’t have to be complicated or over-clever. For me, I have to get outside.

Walk, pull up some weeds in the garden, spend time with the dog. It doesn’t take long to feel better, more grounded and to put things back in the perspective that is right for them. However, that decision to

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take a break and step back has to come from us as individuals. No one is going to say to us: “Your brow looks furrowed, you look like you need a break, off you go, I’ve got this while you do some deep breathing exercise and re-ground yourself”. Well, not this side of the Atlantic. So, it’s up to us as individuals to monitor and manage our own stress. It’s a good habit to get into and even better for your children to observe you doing. If you’d like to know more about managing the sources of stress in your life, let’s chat. All details on my website, or follow me on Instagram.

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We have received funding from the National Community Fund to enable us to offer telephone support line for anybody having trouble coping with these wierd times that we are going through. Whatever your problem, give us a call and our friendly counsellor will try to help. The help line is available: Wednesdays, 6pm-8pm Thursdays, 10am-3pm Tel: 07714 550969 It’s good to share

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A walk around...

with retired Dorset rights of way officer Chris Slade

MANSTON

6 miles There’s a small car park near the Church, which is worth a visit as it’s Grade 1 listed. There’s a domed building close to it which might possibly be a mausoleum. Then take the footpath from near the car park to the west south west for a mile and a quarter across meadows skirting the Stour. Look out for interesting wildfowl and enjoy the lovely views. When you reach a tributary stream, Chivrick’s Brook, you’re at the parish boundary so turn back and head north east alongside a hedge, then a farm track to join a road. Walk north east along the road for a quarter of a mile and, just past an industrial estate, join a path heading north east across a field to a junction of paths where you turn left and head north west, then turning north through a short section of woodland with pheasant feeders, across another field to join a path heading north east along a field edge. This joins a farm track skirting a wood, then another footpath north

east to cross the boundary with Marnhull. Follow the boundary hedge bank north east as far as the road at Ramshill Farm. Turn right and head south south east down the road, taking care as it can be busy at times. At a junction turn right and head south south west as far as the Plough Inn, which was closed when I visited, but may now be open. The road swings left and heads south down to the village. Carry on south south east and then south and you’ll soon be back at the car. If you’re not a muggle and are into geocaching (look it up!) you might have found several on this walk, although one needs a slight diversion. Herbs are helpful but can also be dangerous, so take care

I was telephoned this week by someone very concerned about his wife going off and picking meadowsweet after reading my article. Quite rightly, he was worried about the safety of just picking herbs. It is obviously vitally important that if you are foraging for herbs, you are absolutely sure you have the right one. There are plants growing wild, and in our gardens, that are highly toxic and could make you extremely unwell or even kill you. If you are interested in foraging then it would be a good idea to have some books to refer to or even better to find a herbalist or forager and go on a tour with them, it is amazing what you can learn in one day. Some of these poisonous plants we as herbalists do use, but they can only be administered by a qualified herbalist and there are very strict Government guidelines on the maximum single and weekly doses. These herbs have profound physiological effects on the central nervous system and are mainly used for emergencies. They do not address the underlying cause of an illness. When you go to a herbalist the initial consultation will take at least one hour. We will try to establish what the root cause of your illness or problem might be and will address that. We do not just treat symptoms. Symptoms are a result of your body being out of balance and our aim is to rebalance things by, for example, treating your digestion or stress levels or making sure that your liver is not congested, your heart is strong, and your blood is moving freely around your body taking nutrients and hormones to where they are meant to be. Your bowels have to be working well so you are getting rid of toxins and not just recycling them. Your kidneys need to be efficient to get rid of uric acid and other toxins. In short, herbalists look at the whole body including your lifestyle, diet, stress levels and previous medical history and will then come up with advice and herbal prescriptions. I was going to talk about Yarrow this week, but it is not a herb that should be confined to a single sentence, so that will be in the next issue. I would however like to reiterate that herbs can be very powerful, some are poisonous and some addictive – look at coffee, tobacco, poppies (from which morphine and heroin is made). Do always make sure that you know you have the right herb if picking them yourself. nFiona Chapman pellyfiona@gmail.com. 07742453285

Fiona Chapman is studying naturopathy and herbal medicine at the College of Naturopathic Medicine