READING THE LANDSCAPE

| gaiainaction

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The landscape that I am thinking about if not some wild stretch along the coast or hill side here in West Cork.  It is, rather, my immediate surroundings – our garden, where I have access any time of day or night and can make observations in any season of the year.  Let it be during my early morning stroll past the vegetable plots to the back where everything is disorderly and where wild things grow, or let it be during the height of day when the sun is streaming through the tree canopies, or at times when Irish mist engulfs us and brings the clouds real close to the earth.  Night time too is good to find and learn to understand the many creatures that are about.

Our garden is small, it slopes down slightly and it has four mature trees giving shade, a chestnut, silver birch, hawthorn, and a Mediterranean oak.  These all provide shelter for the many birds that frequent on a daily basis, from the little wren to the hooded crows – all are very welcome.

I find it a source of immense pleasure and joy to observe not only all the plants that grow, but to see and know all the wildlife – every little creature, to find out their species, their lifecycle, their name.  To take photos of them helps me sometimes to study one or other aspect of them in more detail.  There is always more to learn and discover, and I find a lot of information on Google as well as in books.

Why my garden, and not the larger landscape around me.  Well it is down to logistics really, my garden I can go into at any moment, it is a daily ritual, a meditation that I have got so used to that it would be hard to live without it.  The wider landscape does get observed too, but not that frequently.

In the garden next door the people keep a pony, this attracts a certain amount of flies to the neighbourhood and that is good.  The other neighbour keeps a small hive of bees, and it is nice to have those come into the garden at times.  Behind our dilapidated sheds at the very back, where some rotting wood also gives shelter to a variety of insects, the ground, covered in wild plants and grasses, slopes down towards the town, well below us.

And so this small bit of nature, filled with wild plants and herbs has an eco-system all of its own, rich in variety and brimming with creatures, a goldmine for anyone with an interest.  Great joy can be found in reading this landscape and finding new discoveries every day.  The changing seasons, even the high temperatures and drought recently brought about unique or forgotten surprises, like the very large wasps that we had not seen for many years.

I watch, and listen, and observe, and I find that the natural world is a great source of joy!

Small tortoiseshell – Aglais urticae
Small White – Pieris rapae

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Red Admiral - Vanessa atalanta,

Aglais urticae - small tortoiseshell

31 thoughts on “READING THE LANDSCAPE”

  1. You are so right, dear Agnes to find nature to be a place of joy. And it was very joyful to look at your photos. My computer doesn’t work yet. Hope I can post some things next week. Kind regards Mitza

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  5. This is exactly what I love to do too. There is endless joy and fascination, isn’t there. Your photos of butterflies are completely stunning.

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  7. My borage hasn’t done well at all this year, no doubt because of the drought. On the other hand, having dug over ground at the back of the garden, buckwheat is shooting up. I think it was ground elder holding that back, though.
    Anyway, lovely to read the picture you paint of your garden, Agnes. The shade from your trees must be welcome at times.

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  12. A pleasure to wander your garden space with you, Agnes. Our intimate surroundings are the most observed and it is here that we feel the breath of Nature connecting us in a deep and meaningful way. Hope you’ve had a good summer, hard to believe Sept. is just around the corner!

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    1. Do you mean the bee on the Buddleia? I was not sure if it was a hoverfly or a bee, glad to have an id, thank you. It is here in West Cork, Ireland in a semi-urban garden.

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      1. No, I meant the picture with about 6 bees on what looks like sea rocket. These slender bees are black and red and are lassioglossum (furrow bees). They have this habit of roosting at night by clustering on a flower head, although I have never seen it myself.

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      2. Ha that is good to know, thank you, because it was in the evening that I took the photo. They were clustered on the lavender twigs and I was wondering what was going on – I had never seen this before either, but will be on the look out for them again. Much appreciated your feedback.

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