Still wintering

The New Year energy is still strong. The impulse to make resolutions to do more, to be more, - plenty of new year, new you messaging in the media, selling exercise regimes, plan your year regimes, diet regimes. On the one hand it seems everyone has forgotten that it's still winter here, that it's hibernation season and really not the time to be trying to persuade yourself to eat more salad (brrrr!) or go for that 6.00am jog in the dark and cold. On the other hand, there are also plenty of people trying to sell you the promise of future sunshine in the form of a holiday, which can be easy to succumb to when you can barely set foot outside your front door without risking a trip to A&E after taking a tumble on the ice.

Whilst my inbox filled up with the usual inspirational messages promising new year change, another email caught my eye. It's opening few lines read as follows:

"We're not doing the 'new year, new me' thing. It's January, yes, but the recognised start of spring - the Spring Equinox - is still ten weeks away (March 20). The days are still short. The ground is still cold. We are still in the throes of Winter."

It came from Purpose Disruptors, an organisation who are aiming to transform the advertising industry to work in harmony with the natural world.  One of the resources they linked to in their January email was The Creative Freelancer's Climate Almanac from a non profit called Julie’s Bicycle, who work to support the creative and cultural community in tackling the climate crisis.  The almanac offers seasonal ideas for artists and other creatives to build into their practice, with suggestions for aligning work to the natural rhythms of the changing seasons.  For January it encourages us to embrace rest whilst still finding inspiration in Winter.

I love an almanac; there is something restful about books laid out in monthly form; I find it reassuring to have a guide that shows you that the month where you are, is precisely the place to be – the ONLY place to be right now.  My go to guide for the seasons is Lia Leendertz’s Almanac.  This year its theme is forests and trees, and the cover is beautifully decorated with golden ferns, receiving it every Christmas has become a yearly ritual, and a gift that I dig into for personal pleasure and work inspiration throughout the year.  Lia is a regular guest on Cerys Matthew’s BBC6 Music show too offering insights on nature, folklore and often what’s happening with the moon!  How amazing was the Wolf Moon in January?  Sadly my photograph above doesn’t really do it justice – but it was one of those moments in the park where strangers stopped, awestruck, to talk about it.  In fact another seasonal almanac that I have just treated myself to, for work purposes obviously, is The Book of Moons & Seasons by Hannah McDonald so as well as focusing on trees, I am also hoping to learn more about the names of the full moons each month – plus a reminder to keep looking up.  I feel like I am already leaning towards some over ambitious nature goals this year, and just to mention a final one.  I was very taken with Paul Wood’s chunky book Tree Hunting from the moment I saw it, and made a vague plan to try and seek out as many of the 1000 trees listed as possible.  However a book that includes details of 1000 trees plus many pictures is not pocket sized and I’ve been struggling to remember to note the locations down before heading out the door.  But now I have just discovered his newsletter The Street Tree with links to a spreadsheet of all the trees with their locations as well as an online map, which will make accessing the information so much easier.  I also think his newsletter might become a 2026 favourite.

A slower start to the year could also involve doing something worthwhile for you and for nature, having compassion for nature - the fifth pathway to nature connection! And what could be more gentle than sitting counting birds? Psychology Today even has a new year article about the seven reasons you should take up birdwatching in 2026. Luckily the RSPB has a great opportunity coming up on the weekend of 23rd-25th January - their Big Garden Birdwatch - although you don't actually need a garden, you could choose a spot in a park instead. You don't even need much time, you're not signing yourself up to a year of birdwatching, just an hour. You can find out more and sign up on their website, where they'll provide you with a handy guide to the species you might see. If you love it and do want to keep on counting, then you could join the British Trust for Ornithology's community of garden birdwatchers and take part in their year round Garden Birdwatch, doing weekly bird counts.

If you'd rather count something even closer to home than the birds in your garden, then The Big Plastic Count is happening from 9th to 15th March so there is plenty of time to sign up for this one. It's a people-powered investigation into the plastic waste we produce as households in the UK. We all know that plastic is harming both the environment and human health and that there is A LOT of it. All you need to do is count the household plastic that you use during the week of the count and submit your results.

There are plenty of other opportunities to become a citizen scientist over the course of a year. One of my favourite nature noticers, Zabby Allen, who has a newsletter called the Nature Notice Board listed a wide range of citizen science projects in her first post of the year.

She also linked to resources from the Natural History Museum who have produced a calendar of a range of surveys you can take part in, from frogs and toads to harvest mice! They also have an introductory guide for people new to wildlife monitoring. So if you're inspired to do more for nature this year, then there is a range of options to get you started.

Finally, as we approach St Brigid's Day on 1st February (yes I do realise this is looking ahead somewhat, but there won't be another post before then), I dipped into another seasonal book that was recommended to me recently. Round We Dance by Mark Green offers ideas for nature based sacred celebrations in an atheopagan tradition. As atheopagans don't subscribe to belief in any deities they avoid using terms related to theistic religions; their name for the more traditional Imbolc or St Brigid's Day is "The Brightening" - which seems perfect. It's really not yet Spring as aligned in the Celtic calendar, there's still too much dark and cold for that, but by 1st February there will at least be more light. I also particularly like their coinage of "The Dimming" for Lammas. I'll leave you with their ode to this time of year:

"At last the days lengthen

Cozy in our beds

We can at least dream of spring"

My own personal celebration for this time of year is to choose a few places where you know there will be bulbs sprouting and check in with them regularly. So far I have been rewarded with a few snowdrops already blooming and two surprise orange crocuses. The early daffodil patch I return to every year is on track to bloom shortly. Spring will come.