Nature... a force to be reckoned with
Lynda attended our writing workshop on the 9th of March and very kindly has shared her writing with us.
A morning Thumbnail Nature Writing workshop at WWT Caerlaverock. The theme was to explore “haecceity”, a term new to me. A quick Google search states: the translation from the Latin means “thisness”. The quality that makes something what it is: its essence. So, where you are at any one point, is described by the one immersed in that world, making it unique to them, and unique in that point in time. I think. Anyway, the morning was inspiring and insightful, filled me with wonder and questions, as well as ponderings on where we are, why we are and what next?
When I introduced my reason for being on the workshop, I described the therapeutic value of nature, enriching my life, restoring my energy reserves, allowing me to keep on going. I hope you enjoy my read, but remember it is about my morning, surrounded by what I saw, heard and felt but I hope some of it is familiar.
swans and geese on Whooper Pond by David Pickett
Nature...A Force to be Reckoned With
Mother’s Day 2024: Dedicated to Grace, my lovely wee mum, who taught me wild flower names.
Coming of spring, influencing my mood. A hopeful time; a reflective time: on the precipice of anew but looking back at the season nearly past.
Primroses look up, their cheerful milky yellow petals quiver in the chilly bluster of a March wind. They are early signifiers that herald the restart of life. Around me nature is busy preening and preparing: violent displays of one-upmanship superiority on the pond as waterfowl jostle for the best wife.
Rooks bustle on the wing, gathering the best bits to swaddle their young in cots that sit precariously,rocking to and fro atop the naked branches of trees reaching up, waiting for the chance to burst into new life too.
It's all happening, as you walk the hawthorn, tree lined avenue towards the observatory, the open-stretched arms of the reclaimed salt plains and mud flats that make up the Caerlaverock prairie invite you to don goggled spyglasses to scan the horizon for exciting happenings. A hundred years from now this will be an underwater wilderness once there but for now a place where deer frolic and the sweet scented gorse barrier does mankind’s bidding, keeping the dampness of the Solway at bay.
Nature will conquer: knows how to adapt; recognises there’s winners and losers. Go with the flow; don’t interfere, respect the haecceity.
Feature image by Faith Hillier of primroses
