Tis the season

No, don't worry, not that season. It was unnerving to open The Living Almanac newsletter and discover that the seasonal signpost that Lia had chosen for her month was "greenberries". She said she had first noticed them in June but couldn't bring herself to mention blackberries in June. I assumed that whatever happens down south will only happen here MONTHS later here, only to find the brambles I pass on my daily walks, becoming more plentiful, fatter and in some cases BLACK, as the calendar eased into July! I guess it has been very warm. At points. When it hasn't been very wet. Although that's good for the brambles too. It looks like it's going to be a good year for making jam!

I am also tempted to take inspiration from Zabby's Nature Notice Board and suggest that you stop reading about nature and instead go outside and look for it, thus reducing my need to continue writing, but then I wouldn't be able to talk about ladybirds, the topic of Zabby's latest post. She also didn't stop writing and instead gathered a great collection of ladybird facts, if that's the sort of thing you enjoy. I only take exception to one of her points which is that they don't really bite. They did in 1976! As a small child in the middle of the hottest summer ever, I was enjoying watching a ladybird crawl up my arm when it stopped and sunk its gigantic teeth into my flesh. Ok I am exaggerating a little, but apparently in the midst of the drought this was a thing! I was pleased to discover that the collective noun for ladybirds is a loveliness and despite the incident above, I'll let it stand. But oh dear, this research has lead me down a hole to books, as these things often do and I have discovered both the vintage and the reprinted Naturalists' Handbooks series via the Ladybirds volume. I am no naturalist but how could anyone resist the title "Insects and thistles" or "Animals under logs and stones" - and the joy of discovering that I am already the owner of one solitary volume of these books, ironically "Solitary Bees". I feel a collection coming on. Ladybirds were also in the collective consciousness of cricket fans the other week when the teams were "attacked" by a "swarm of ants" that actually turns out to be a loveliness of ladybirds. For a moment of delight check out the commentary here.

Talking of both books and delight. I am deep into Ross Gay's second collection of delights called "The Book of (More) Delights" chosen not least for the delightful dandelion drawing on the cover. Ross is a teacher and poet also deeply immersed in the community gardening world through the Bloomington Community Orchard, a place where "the harvest is available to everyone". There's a perfect moment in his podcast conversation with Krista Tippett, where they are talking about the joy of gardening and how to linger with small things that are actually pretty big and he says:

That’s what I think when I look at a flower, whatever the flower is. We’re growing a really nice crop of dandelions right now. And just this year, I was like, “It’s a crop. It’s a crop.”

I love this so much, they're not weeds, they're not even flowers. They're a crop!!!! To help convert the most ardent lawn lover to dandelion lover, there are a whole host of facts on the Royal Horticultural Society website. Good for biodiversity (obviously) they are also beneficial to humans: the leaves can be eaten, raw or cooked, the flower buds can be used instead of capers and both the flowers and the roots can be used in hot drinks - tea from the flowers and coffee from the roots. If this is all sounding a bit healthy, then perhaps you haven't considered dipping them in batter and deep frying them to make dandelion flower fritters! As I have mentioned a million times before, you don't need to be in the wilderness to enjoy nature, the dandelion relentlessly growing through the cracks in the paving slabs is enough.

However if you want some assistance in connecting with nature over the next few weeks, TCV have some events in Blantyre and Palacerigg Country Park; Get Walking Lanarkshire are being joined by Trees for Cities over the next couple of months to briefly transform their health walks into tree ID walks; find out more here and there is a ParkBathe session coming up in Uddingston on Monday 18th August. Joining a ParkBathe (don't worry, no immersion in water necessary) is a gentle introduction to using your senses to connect with nature, whilst taking a slow and mindful stroll with a small group of likeminded people. It never fails to amaze me how quickly you can tune out of your thoughts and into the living world around you when you do so with deliberation.

Finally, calling residents of South Lanarkshire!!! There is a survey now open to look at how climate change affects people in South Lanarkshire, particularly those who are vulnerable. The aim is to make sure that everyone is treated fairly as we work towards reducing carbon emissions. This is the meaning of a just transition . The results will help South Lanarkshire Council make informed decisions about how to better support communities. You can find the survey here.