It was interesting to hear this week about the term Nature Deficit Disorder, on both The One Show and also in this piece in today’s Guardian. I guess that I’ve had the luxury of having the best of both worlds, what with me being on the doorstep of Moseley Bog (quite literally in fact, it takes just seconds for me to get to it) yet still living in the suburbs of a big city at the same time.
As a child I would go out with my parents and walk the dogs while pleading to go down into the muddy area of the bog instead of staying in the dry. As an adult I’ll still go out and walk the dogs but this time I know that if I go down to the muddy area with the dogs and paddle in the water with them then I know that by the time I get home it won’t be the parents, it’ll be me who has to clean eight muddy paws!
Okay so there’s still the whirr of traffic from the Yardley Wood Road but other than that it’s just the nature you can hear, the birds, the bees, the dogs barking when playing. You can spot the occasional white tail of a rabbit running off or the rare sound of the woodpecker that lives there. If you can block out that traffic then it’s really nice and peaceful.
Richard Louv, who wrote the book that first mentioned Nature Deficit Disorder says that:
For this generation, nature is more of an abstraction than a physical reality. Kids today can tell you about the Amazon rainforest, but not about the last time they went into a wood alone. Nature is something to watch from a distance, something to consume.
That last bit is something that I do agree with, nature is at its best when you are admiring it, whether it’s a bluebell or a butterfly (not that I’d admire one of those, I am petrified of them) or tree roots that just look plain interesting. Don’t get involved in it, just look and watch. Nature’s been evolving for longer than humans have, it will keep doing it.
I went to the Forest of Dean with my parents and the dogs yesterday. It’s somewhere we used to go each Whitsun break in the caravan, rain or shine, so this day trip was a real nostalgia fest. Our first port of call was the Sculpture Trail at Beechenhurst Lodge. It was an annual event whenever we were there and we’d cycle it, walk it or even do it backwards we knew it that well. It’s the perfect combination of art and nature. There’s no sounds of traffic in the background, just the sounds of the nature, and the occasional bike bell when they want you to get out of the way!
We then made our way over to Symonds Yat Rock, a lovely view point where the views of the Wye Valley are stunning. They also have telescopes where you can see the Peregrine Falcons on the cliff side and experts from the RSPB are there to answer any of your queries about them.
Do you know what the best bit of my day was? Being away from my laptop, the test match on TV/radio and having very little phone signal. Because to me getting away to nature means getting away from all of the mod cons too, it helps you to clear your head, to relax you, and whether it’s on your doorstep or further away take advantage of it.
Here’s a slideshow of some of my photos from the day: my dogs got into some of the photos – Freddie (aged 10 months) is the one with lots of fur, Matt (10 years) with less fur:
[slideshare id=4416984&doc=theforestofdean-100605065319-phpapp02]
