It's been awhile, said all those responsible for updating their website and blog, but I'm hoping you'll forgive me as I'm in the final year of my PhD and time, it is a moving. I have often thought of a blog post that might communicate how I feel at the moment; over-whelmed, tired, mono, freakishly self-doubting, submarooned as I am in data analysis and writing, and wanting so much to do my wonderful participants justice as they shared their stories and experiences of being in nature during a time we'd all rather forget (or do we?). So instead, in honour of my keyboard that will literally carry me to the end of my PhD journey and the pangram "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog", I shall share one of my recent nature experiences, one that involved a quick orangey red fox jumping over a tall green hedge...
I first saw a flash of orange in my tall green hedge a few months ago. My eye was drawn the the contrast of colour and the novelty of it in my small urban garden. Then, a fox's head popped up eight foot in the air, had a little look around and then disappeared as quickly as they had arrived. A night or so after that I looked out of the window to find two having a ding-dong on the shed roof; lots of snapping and scowling. They saw me, stared and then both jumped off into the hedge. I can't tell you how excited I got, the idea that something wild felt comfortable enough in my little green space to hang out. I now find things moved about (by something bigger than a mouse), the odd, carefully presented poo, and I have to remind myself that it's not my little green space but a spot made available by a hole unplugged, one place of many that a fox may meander through as they negotiate living in an urban setting. So maybe I don't sweep up all the dropped bird food, and continue to check the water levels in the bowls. I'll leave snails and slugs to wander about as a light snack (justified circle of life) for these fantastic beasts. I've also googled what I can leave out for a fox to eat which is basically anything you might feed your dog (nothing spicy of course).
My fox sightings and their subsequent blessing of my garden has given me a real nature boost when I needed it. Nature came to me, when I was stuck inside with only a short walk to satisfy my need for a nature hit. Nature looked at me through my kitchen window, tapped and said hi, then promptly curled up and went to sleep.
I appreciate that I am fully anthropomorphising nature, and I shall be clear about this in my own reflections as I write up my work. My relationship with nature, how I conduct myself in it and with it is an important part of who I am and why I wanted to explore others people's experiences with nature. Hopefully soon, I'll be able to share more of my own findings. Until then enjoy the picture I took at lunchtime today...