With spring blossoming, Victoria Benn catches up with naturalist, writer and honorary President of Friends of the Dales, Amy-Jane Beer to find out how she goes about earthing herself at this special time of the year:
Where has your nature writing taken you recently?
Last week I visited the Windypits in the North York Moors National Park, they are these extraordinary fissures and potholes that emit gusts of geothermally heated air. I’m sure in days gone by they would have been interpreted as supernatural entities, maybe hiding dragons!
Sounds inspiring, what can we learn from them?
Until recent times − in relation to the millennia we’ve inhabited the earth − people always had spiritual a connection to the land. More recently than that it was considered absolutely normal to interpret landscape features as animate, embodying monstrous or supernatural beings such as the Barghest or spectral hounds, like the one that was believed to inhabit the limestone gorge at Troller’s Gill near Appletreewick. It seems fanciful to speak of such things now, yet by seeing the land through the eyes of our ancestors we can start to appreciate that we are from a much longer line of people who’ve known and loved a place, which creates a very powerful connection.
Why do you think a connection to the land is important?
I campaign for the Right to Roam as a means of restoring our innate connection to the earth − our right to engage with it becomes a right to care for and defend it. The development of a bond with the landscape is essential for us to truly care about the earth, including the non-human lives that exist alongside us. I’d encourage readers to see if they can connect to their own landscape the way their ancestors might have done. Have fun, use your imagination and conjure up some stories! It’s allegedly what Charles Kingsley did on a trip to Arncliffe, becoming inspired to write The Water Babies after spending time by the enchanting River Skirfare.
Any tips on how to do this?
Now’s the perfect time. Wherever you look, be it scars and crags, rivers and valleys or our dynamic coastlines, planet earth is always in a cycle of decay and renewal, and in spring all this happens in fast forward! All around us buds are bursting and early spring flowers are pushing up through the dead leaves; primrose, violets and wild anemones with their delicate flowers are joyous signs of renewal that are easy to spot.
One of the earliest invertebrates to look out for is the Brimstone, a large, pale yellow butterfly, with distinctive, leaf-shaped wings and a bouncing, fluttery flight which is uplifting for them and us! Considered the herald of spring, they are thriving across Yorkshire as climate change pushes them further north. I would encourage you to go out to the same place two to three times a week to really absorb ‘spring in action’. It’s also a wonderful way of offering yourself up to the spirit of nature.
