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Duckling update. Nearly one month later.

12 May. With 6 of us in our family everyday life is generally quite noisy. Moments of quiet and quiet places stand out. On our visit to Walkmill this day Rowan found a hole where he felt mice lived. He has been noticing holes and borrows on walks a lot recently. A reminder that a lot of natures activity goes on away from our ears and eyes underground. At the stream by the corner Rowan found a quiet place to sit and spend a little time. As we walked back towards the Frizington Road carpark towards the end of our walk I was drawn to walk off the path. We had walked off this path a little some time ago when we were gathering leaves for our nature art. This time I had an unexpected suprise and found a clearing. A large space, a clearing. It seems to be fenced off from the woodland. I wondered if it was part of the woodland or own by someone else. All the plans and excitement I had felt about the community asset transfer from the County Council to our Parish Council with our community group and West Cumbria Rivers Trust re awoke. What could be done with this bit of open space? After all these years there are still many new discoveries to be had here.

12th May. A visit to Walkmill. As usual lots to see and everything seems to smell so intensely at this time of year. Do the flowers smell more when they have just formed and opened? For years I had admired the yellow flowers of the gorse but had never realised their scent. A walk in Walkmill some years ago had taken me on one of the lesser known paths. Here there were a number of horse bushes close together. At first I didn't know where the almost coconutty smell was coming from. Then I realised it was the gorse. Ever since I have taken the time to smell the gorse. Today I shared the joy of gorse with Willow and encouraged her to have a smell! Rowan enjoyed sharing some flowers with me and in the group picture he can be seen enjoying their smell.

Legs laden with pollen pockets, Busy buzzing bee. Mining, working, toiling each day, Do you know your importance? For you and for me? We've forgotten your importance, Busy buzzing bee. But I have hope - we must have hope - for recovery, For you and for me.

A group of Young Farmers aged 8 - 14 are taking part in the Keeping it Wild campaign. They attended a media training day with Headliners at the Centre for Wildlife Gardening where they designed a digital campaign: Let's Get Pollinating. The project aims to promote the understanding and protection of all kinds of different pollinating insects with local and wider communities across London. 

9th May. Early evening, a lovely peaceful and still time for a walking meditation in Hawkeswood. I teach yoga and meditation and walking meditation is one of my favourite practices. The footsteps are linked with alternating hand mudras and a pranayama (breath) and mantra of choice. I find it really grounding to take my footsteps consciously, feeling the connection between myself and the Earth. The meditative aspect of it is relaxing and I like to choose an energising pranayam. All the benefits of a walk, meditation and being in nature all combined. Rosie came to join in as well.

6th May. I was really struck by the the arrangement of this fern's leaves on the forest floor. Taking a picture of it from a little further away I noticed flowers growing actually in the tree! A little higher up we have Willow and Rowan sitting in a tree. The children love being in nature. We have bought a woodland in Wales and have just begun the long process of putting together a management plan for a One Planet Development application. If successful we will get planning permission to build an eco house in our woods. This permission is conditional on us meeting ongoing requirements relating to our carbon footprint and meeting all our minimum need expenses from living off the land. One of the driving reasons for our choices is to give the children the opportunity to grow up in a woodland, immersed in nature. The last picture is looking above the children's vantage point to the tree tops. I love looking up to the sky through the trees. Bliss.

3rd May. On the way home from Hawkeswood we called in at Walkmill Community Woodland. We parked in the carpark where the Rivers Trust have placed their benches made of the recycled plastic from the River Keekle. Unfortunately someone had lit a fire inbetween some of the rocks there. I didn't think to take a picture before I cleared it up. I don't know what they had burnt but what was left was a lot of melted plastic and some larger sunburnt metal items. I cleared it up the best I could and then the girls enjoyed leaping from rock to rock. See the remnants of the fire beneath. I also cleared an amount of rubbish from the carpark into the bin provided. The view down one of the paths looking lush and green.