Tag: nature
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Lundy – A home from a distance
At the moment, I’m on the mainland, in my house on the North Devon coast. It feels odd looking out towards Lundy as from here it’s just a rock out at sea. It is strange as it does not feel like an island I live on! When I am at home on the mainland, I…
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A Walk Through Lundy’s Historic Quarries and a link to Portland, Dorset.
On Summer days, when the sun sits high and clean above Lundy, the island glows. The granite shines, Mica and Feldspar glinting black and white. It is the quality of this granite that led to the creation of the Lundy Granite Company in 1863. Although there is little sun today at the end of November.…
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How Wind Shapes Life on Lundy
A North Easterly wind has been blowing over the island this week. It feels that winter has most definitely arrived. The wind here isn’t like wind on the mainland, it feels more dramatic, feeling like a force you negotiate with. In my last blog post, I wrote of fog and how it can bring the…
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Exploring Lundy’s Mystical Fog Experiences
I’ve been reading Matt Gaw’s thoughts on fog in his book ‘In All Weathers’. Ironically, this happened just as fog settled over Lundy! It made me think about my own encounters with fog on the island and how fog shapes life here. Walking in fog When fog descends on Lundy, it can be the type…
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Wintering into October and November
Settling Back into Island Life Coming back to Lundy from Portugal was a shock. Suddenly I was back on this small island in the Bristol Channel. The clocks had changed, and it was dark even when I set off for my evening shift. I felt like I was buckling down for winter. The first few…
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Exploring The Saints Way: A Pilgrimage in Cornwall
A pilgrimage along the Saints way from Padstow to Fowey.
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Lundy’s Yarrow
(Achillea millefolium) Last week, instead of striding out in my break, trying to get my 15,000 steps in. I decided to do something different. I took myself off with my flask of West county Liquorice tea, found a sheltered spot on the west coast near the Old Light, and simply… sat. A small quarried hollow…
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A Guide to Forest Bathing on Lundy
I spend all year bathing in the sea. But on this day, I decided to stay on the land and do some forest bathing. Forest bathing is known in Japan as Shinrin-Yoku. It originated in Japan in the 1980’s. It involves immersing oneself in the forest atmosphere using sensory experiences like sight, smell, hearing, and…
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Blake’s Jerusalem
And did those feet, in an ancient time, walk upon England’s mountains green? Jerusalem – William Blake (1988) This walk was chosen because it was my old stomping ground of West Sussex. It also had links to a famous poem. The idea that William Blake trod part of this route felt that this was definitely…
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Varieties of Daffodils on Lundy Island
If you have been on Lundy in the spring, you would spot a plethora of daffodils. The first to spring up seem to be those at the bottom of the Steps of Doom / LFS steps. Ian our island carpenter and MillCombe allotment holder loves flowers and photography, he shared with me some of his…
Jane Sharkey 