Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott.
Well you join me in London or Surrey,
I'm just outside of London and it's a very built up area and it's the morning,
The sun is shining and I've been staying with my brother overnight and I've come out to find a walk and a piece of greenery and I've done that.
I'm in a park that doesn't,
It's probably about a ten minute walk from his house and I'm beside a little bit of woodland actually which is,
I'm just reading on the notice board here,
Is two hectares so it's quite small when you take the whole size of the park here and just to say there are cyclists and runners and dog walkers making the way around the park so you you might hear other people nearby and I've just been looking at the notice board and reading up about it and apparently it's an oak wood but the thing that I found really wonderful is that about 25 years ago it was seen that the little piece of oak woodland was under a bit of stress and so there was a concerted effort to plant it to help it along and acorns were gathered,
It was a community event and they were planted and not just oaks but things like,
I'm just reading here,
Dog rose,
Hazel,
Blackthorn,
Hawthorn,
Field maple,
Wild cherry,
Silver birch,
Lots of different types of trees and they were put in the woodland and I don't know if you can hear it but as I'm standing here the birdsong is glorious,
I mean I really could be in the middle of the countryside and I can't help but smile.
There's two things really,
One is that even in the midst of a city landscape there are these pockets of nature,
Nature clings on and that's what I'm feeling right at this minute but secondly that humans can make a difference in a positive way and again that's reminding me of that right this minute where with a bit of human intervention this small piece of woodland was improved,
Was brought back to life again and I always find it quite hard when I come up to London or any big city because at heart I'm a country girl and yesterday if you remember we were in the midst of walking the South Ham's Trail and I was on the top of a beacon in the middle of spring with sun and blue skies and a view sweeping down to the coast and then a view that looked right back into the heart of the moorland with its empty expanse.
Here I am now in the midst of a very different landscape and one which I feel is not quite mine,
This is not this is not my home but what I love is that there are still pockets I can come to and see and feel and hear nature and in a world where sometimes I feel quite saddened by the destruction of what I see around me how humankind decimates and has no respect for this beautiful wonderful resource of nature but when I realize actually that there are stories where people get together and make a difference I always feel there's hope I always feel there's hope.
So today is just a reminder that wherever you live the importance of finding pockets of nature it might be you've got a park nearby if you live in a city or it might be that you've just got a tree or I don't know what it is but we are nature we are made of the same energy.
Within us is a deep remembrance and remembering of when we actually were cognizant of the dance of nature and took our place and part in it so the first thing is just a reminder is please don't forget the power of nature and the second thing is a reminder of the positive impact that humankind can have and for me today what I want to do is I want to reflect on that there is positivity there are people that are pulling together there are communities that are making things better and in the same way that this little woodland was regenerated and reinvigorated so we people can get together and ensure that there are pockets of beauty in the world.
I hope you've enjoyed listening to today's five minutes in nature and don't forget to join me again tomorrow for another five minutes in nature.
