Natural World (Flora) Episodes

As the heat begins to settle, join us tonight on the narrowboat Erica as we enjoy that special time of a summer’s day, when evening falls and cool breezes ripple the water’s surface. The heat and work pressures have meant that tonight we are freewheeling a little. We also take a peak out of The Land of Green Ginger's window. Settle back in the cool and enjoy a gentle ride to wherever. Journal entry: 24th June, Wednesday “Back from a hot city In a hot field ...

In tonight’s episode we meet a couple of beautiful spring flowers with some fearsome reputations and go about spring cleaning a very messy and cluttered boat with the help of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. Journal entry: 20th April, Saturday “A ring of coltsfoot heads has been placed In the crevice of an oak-beam used as a picnic table. They lie bleached and desiccated Shrouded in fine cobweb and dust. They look just like the vestige Of some prehistoric ritual. Perhaps so...

We are back! Spring sunshine and showers are transforming the fields and the canal and it is wonderful to be behind the microphone once again! The roof of a narrowboat can acts as a special extra room offering you panoramic views of a world of thee worlds. Why not climb up here and join us up on the roof of the Erica to enjoy rook play and the approach of a thunderstorm. This episode is dedicated especially to Stu and Vania. Journal entry: 10th May, Wednesday “A game of Pooh-sticks a...

Tonight's episode will be the last for awhile. I am trying to juggle too many things and I am not coping. I hope to be back soon. Thank you for all your support it means and has meant so much to me xx Tonight, the clouds are racing and the young moon has already dipped below the horizon. Spring comes roaring on the back of a raging southwesterly. Join the Erica on a windy March night as, with the help of Rory's favourite book, we explore the significance of the conclave of oaks on the hill to...

The colours of autumn this year promise to be spectacular and the towpaths are being transformed by the brush of autumn’s artistry. Join us tonight as we drink in some of the sights and ponder why this season can evoke such a mixture of emotions within us. Journal entry: 11th October, Tuesday “A wash of gold afternoon light That fresh clean scent of damp earth And falling water The sluices are full and running, Laced with curtains of pearl and crystal. A yearling ewe, with her for...

Just as the wind swung north with its sting of sleet and hail, the first batch of ducklings were hatched this week. It was a far from simple event! However, as winter attempted to reassert itself with some biting winds and sharp frosts, we are reminded that winter’s growl is no match for the roar of Spring. Journal entry: 1st April, Friday "Penny looks up at me, hunched and quizzical, As snow pellets and plum blossom fall. There is nothing remotely romantic about these driven, windbl...

A week of glorious spring weather has heightened springtime activity along the canal sides and nearby fields. It also coincides with a particularly busy period personally. My response and those of the birds and animals around could not be more different. We dip our toes into the worlds of the polar north and the work of Kosuke Koyama to explore some possible explanations for this. Journal entry: 25th March, Friday “The fresh sun glances off the surface of the canal with a shimmering, si...

The pace of autumn is gathering and a chill is creeping into the air tonight, but the stove is warm. In tonight’s episode we go off to encounter Traveller’s Joy, and explore the potency and importance of names. Journal entry: “19th November, Friday The ash tree held its breath as the moon grazed the darkness, Between cirrus sandbanks, in a halo of light. A handful of stars, misplaced and constellation-less, Breadcrumbs, no longer able to lead me home. And now the dawn rises ochre and mauve....

This week Vanessa from ‘The Mindful Narrowboat’ vlog got me thinking and so this week we begin to explore how our knowledge and (perhaps) attitudes to fungi are changing and leading us back to older ways of thinking about the environment and our place within it. Journal entry: “21st October, Thursday A Hunter’s Moon swinging high Across a highwayman’s sky Of racing clouds. The streets of Birmingham run wet With the glittering jewels of Brake lights and shop front signs. Later, A gull soars ...

How did the willow threaten a powerful king? What has bloody fingers to do with St Withburga? How much does our knowledge of the world dictate the way you see it? The names we give things are useful (vital even), but they are not passive. Names frame the way we view the world. In this week’s episode (with apologies to Henry Reed) we ‘unname the parts’ to find how rediscovering local names and stories can connect us in new (or older) ways with our environment. Journal entry: “3rd September, Fri...

Is August high summer, late summer, or early autumn? Does the Queen own our little cygnet that went missing? Who looks after the canal banks? This week’s episode addresses all these pressing questions, as well as dealing with my existential angst at the threat of being robbed of ‘summer’. Journal entry: “19th August, Thursday This week, each day fills and swells with the stresses and anxieties of work. Familiar pulses of panic surge up as the seconds tick by. They overwhelm my skies. It feels...