Wanderlust Publication
Eskrigg Reserve
As it occurred to me, on a blustery morning in Lockerbie Scotland, my backpack hoisted on my back, laden with a high spec camera and shod in my favourite sturdy yellow wellies, staring into the unapologetic vastness of Eskrigg Forest,that humans are the only animals on earth who don’t know who they are...
The Wistful Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called H And you must treat it as a powerful strang Must ask per mission to know it and be k The forest breathes. Listen. It answe
I have made this place around yo If you leave it, you may come back ag ain,
N o
t w o
t re e s
a re
t h e
s a m e
The forest knows wher
you must let it fin D a v i d Wa g o n e r ( 1 9 9 9 )
Here, ger, known. ers,
ou. s ay i n g, H e re.
t o
R ave n .
e you are
d you –
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There was something sinister in the way the branches swayed and the creeking of the boughs the empty wooden table and the gnarly leafless tree overlooking the sad pale grass the forest knows what we have done what man kind have taken from it in the sway of a branch the snap of a twig the rustle of dry dead grass the forrest knows I am an intruder chopping down the bodies of it�s trees and poisoning it with pollution in the blink of an eye it was over but the forest is still listening silently looking on with dissaproval
t tha
sail
Bob
stephanie
a flurrey of movement
gs win
a bushy tail
The Paul
Semore
Elvis
The w ei
rd th i
Sid
Siamon
ng
Gavin
rr
scu
a beautiful smile
A What the **** is that? B What? A The weird thing B oh yeah I see it, look how derpy it looks ‘laughs’ A what the **** is it doing? B I have no ******* idea! ‘snorts’ haha
t fee g yin
Occasionally in the forest I will come across something I’ve never seen before, I don’t however always find the compulsion to research it, and so I will forever refer to that bird as ‘The weird thing”.
Playful A greedy tummy
other names include: Silly Semore Stupid Siamon Greedy Gavin Prankster paul Beautiful Bob Evil Elvis Sassy Stephanie and... sid
The
Nurturing I have always felt the living presence of trees the forest that calls to me as deeply as I breathe, as though the woods were marrow of my bone as though I myself were tree, a breathing, reaching arc of the larger canopy beside a brook bubbling to foam like the one deep in these woods, that calls that whispers home by Michael S. Glaser
At first the reserve seemed quiet,and calm, and empty. The crushing weight of the silence both a heavy weight and uplifting as the Forest was listening. It was a quiet conversation between me and the Forest, but as I walked, and observed, the reserve opened up to me,showing me its personality, and sharing its mood. It made me feel protected in its cover, and lost at the same time in the vast endless stretch of trees and greenery. It made me feel playful, watching squirrels darting about interacting with it, and it made me feel sad, that such beauty was taken for granted and scarred carelsly by man.
The forest however is forgiving, and calm, and accomodating. Happy to have me as I am a stange but natural creature living beneath its soft wings. More than anything I sensed the quiet comfortable silence of the wood. As if the reserve was incased in a dome and my thoughts where my own,but also hers.The woman who walked beside me, with soft measured footfalls, and never left me. I took something of the reserve with me that day, and I keep it in a calm corner of my mind, to retreat to as much and as often as I like.
Eskrigg Nature Reserve, By Vanessa Gordon