Summerfields Wood – Page 2 – Spirit of Nature

Champion Campion

The Red Campion, with its pink petals fusing together into a reddish, ribbed tube, has been quite stunning on the edges of our local woods this Spring. Especially one particular patch saturated with Campion, that catches the early morning sun on my dog-walks.

I had to go and take some photos.

And then some more photos.

It’s funny but I don’t remember seeing or noticing the Red Campion in previous years. Maybe it’s having a bumper year. Probably. But I also think I may have passed it by in former years, without giving it a second glance.

How often do we miss the wood for the trees? Fail to see the extraordinary in the so-called ‘ordinary’?

This morning, as I took communion, I was reminded that Jesus deliberately chose ‘elemental’ things (bread and wine) to serve as ‘sacraments’. The extraordinary in the ordinary. The spiritual in the material. Breaking any division between sacred and secular.

Mindfulness and meditation, whether with a Christian or Buddhist basis, or without any sort of spiritual slant, can help us connect or re-connect with nature and other things and people around us, with God and with ourselves.

Or perhaps rather to (re-)discover the interconnectedness of all things, that was always there. And to notice the wonder of all things.

Thank you, Red Campion, for the reminder.

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Spring 2019 Butterflies

When I was growing up, the stunning Small Tortoiseshell was one of the most frequently seen Spring butterflies, as they emerged from hibernation. In mid-summer, they’d be seen in significant numbers on buddleias, along with Peacocks and Red Admirals.

Now they seem to be sadly scarce, at least in my part of the world. This shiny specimen, that I managed to photograph on the edge of East Hill, Hastings, on 5^th May, is in fact the only Small Tortoiseshell I’ve seen so far this year….

The butterflies I’ve seen most commonly this Spring have been the Speckled Wood (as usual)…

…and (more unusually) the Holly Blue.

The Holly Blue, with its delicate silver-blue underwings, has been conspicuously prolific round this neck of the woods this Spring. I don’t remember seeing this many in any previous year. Apparently, they’re renowned for fluctuating wildly in numbers, believed to be caused by parasitism from the wasp Listrodomus nycthemerus.

“This neck of the woods”, by the way, is mainly Summerfields Woods in Hastings, where I snapped this particular Holly Blue feeding on something in the brickwork of the Walled Garden, as well as the Speckled Wood above.

Always good to see a life or a species doing well, giving us a glimpse of beauty beyond.

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Raptor rapture

Last month, about 15^th April, I had the great pleasure of watching a sparrowhawk flitting to and fro, carrying twigs to a nest high up in the trees in Summerfields Woods, our local nature haven where we walk our dog, Gorka, most days.

One thing that distinguishes this beautiful raptor from other birds of similar size in these woods, such as the magpies and woodpigeons, is the absolute silence with which it takes off.

The noise of the sparrowhawk is conspicuous by its absence. Obviously a prerequisite for a hunting bird that captures and feeds on blue tits and other small birds (of which there are plenty in these woods).

And because it spends most of its time high up in the trees, you’d probably only notice it if you were looking up, looking out for birds.

Over the following weeks I’ve spent some time trying to see her again and to take some pics. A couple of times I saw her, perched on high branches, maybe looking out for prey, and was chuffed to take these reasonable photos:

Another time, I tried to perch myself on some fallen tree trunks, waiting with my camera. I wanted to take a picture of the hawk flying to and from the nest, displaying her fan tail. But it was impossible to get comfortable on the misshapen wood. So I stood around for a few minutes, then walked on.

Within 48 hours, as I returned to the area, I was incredulous to find some woodland volunteers had constructed a bench out of the same fallen trees in exactly the right spot for watching the nest!

The new bench! The red circle indicates approximately where the nest is.

Coincidence? Perhaps. Or perhaps not. Maybe our delight in and appreciation of nature takes on the shape of prayer and worship as it reaches the eyes and ears of the One who designed, sustains and fills this wonderful world – whether or not we’ve intended those sentiments as prayer or worship.

Maybe, when we engage with nature, we cannot help but encounter the Spirit of nature, whatever we call him/her/it.

Read About Spirit of Nature here.