Science & Nature

L-N/Shutterstock

DRAWN TO THE LIGHT

EMPEROR MOTH (Saturnia pavonia) Gillian Nash

It is hardly surprising that each year entomology and lepidoptera groups are sent images of the spectacular Emperor moth by those seeking identification of such an exotic creature. With a wingspan of up to 80cm combined with its striking wing pattern, it is certainly unlike any other UK moth. In fact, of the well in excess of one thousand species within the Saturniidae family worldwide, it is the only one native to the UK. The brightly coloured male is day-flying and therefore much more likely to be seen than the equally beautiful but greyer, larger female. Both have the characteristic ‘eye’ on each forewing, and in flight more are revealed on the hindwings to further confuse any predator that may decide to give chase.

The fast daytime flight of the male resembles that of a butterfly at distance, but once settled its flat resting position is typical of most moth species. Its flight season is April and May and although not common may be found in many parts of the UK and Ireland.

Its varied habitat includes hedgerows, heaths, wastelands and wild, undisturbed places and may consequently be found anywhere foodplants grow. The larvae hatch from eggs laid in April to May and feed from May to August on a wide variety of hedgerow trees and plants such as meadowsweet, heathers, bramble, hawthorn, blackthorn and sallow.

In the final stage of growth, the large bright green larvae has black bands dotted with pink, yellow or white across the length of its body.

Once fully fed they descend to form a cocoon attached to a plant stem near ground level, where they may remain for one or two winters.

Numbers appear to have remained stable since first official records dating from the mid-1800s when it was much prized by collectors of specimens, a popular pursuit at that time.

DRAWING ON NATURE

A REWILDING BRITAIN LANDSCAPE BEST SHOW GARDEN - RHS CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW 2022 Paul Newman, Artist

In spring 2021, a chance conversation at Wincanton Town Festival led to a commission for a unique piece of artwork. Intrigued by Urquhart & Hunt’s stall at the Festival, and knowing a little bit about their work as environmentalists and landscape designers, I bought some organic bulbs from their stall and gave them a copy of one of my greetings cards. I thought nothing more of it other than the opportunity to say hello and share a love of all things wild and nature-based.

A few months later, I received a call to say that Urquhart & Hunt were working on a Rewilding Britain garden design for the 2022 Chelsea Flower Show and would I be interested in helping with some of the artwork? Commissions can be tricky; there are always doubts and questions when making any piece of art but a commission can sometimes also raise mismatched expectations. Although this was something different – the fact that the garden would highlight the reintroduction of beavers to the British landscape, after an absence of 500+ years, piqued my interest and I knew early on that this would be something that I would love to work on.

The desire to make a particular piece of work comes from within, literally being drawn to make work about a very particular moment or observation, so being asked to produce something for someone else’s requirements has to fit in with that desire. Seeing the ongoing depletion of our natural world, and having the chance to contribute to something positive felt like an opportunity not to be missed.

Meetings followed, firstly on Zoom, to understand what the intentions and remit were, what the design might look like and how the different elements would fit together to tell this story. Water features which mimicked beaver habitats, dams and a lodge, authentic West Country walls and a riparian meadow would all combine for the vision. Just before Christmas, I was taken to see a nearby site where beavers had established a territory. A first glimpse of the beaver lodge and a gnawed branch, with distinctive incisor teeth marks, was thrilling and I knew at that moment that the garden would capture people’s imaginations. To see evidence of the beavers and their activity was a privilege and the tour of the site gave me an initial understanding of what incredible bio-engineers beavers are – channels linking up ponds and streams, dams, felled trees and >

the lodge itself all creating a unique ecosystem which then enables other species to thrive, building a food chain.

I have to admit to being initially alarmed at seeing some sizeable alders felled, with the classic double inverted gnawing at their bases but reassured that this only enhanced the landscape, encouraging new growth, natural coppicing and regeneration. I also thought that if we hadn’t denuded nature so much ourselves, the sense of loss would not have felt so great; the work of the beavers was just part of the natural order of things. Further research revealed what special structures the lodges are too, the heap of sticks and branches carefully constructed and housing chambers, with a temperaturecontrolled, secure interior.

Responding to digital artwork which laid out the plans, I produced the hand-drawn artwork over Christmas ready for the main rounds of press releases in the New Year.

Further visits were arranged for early February and I met with the team who would be working on the garden, at a couple of locations in Devon. We were accompanied by Professor Richard Brazier. Richard is a leading expert on beaver reintroduction and it was fascinating to hear first-hand how beavers can create areas of huge water retention, preventing flooding downstream as well as their work as a keystone species enabling the flourishing of a truly bio-diverse landscape. Richard was at pains to point out that this does not just happen in isolation and the need to scientifically monitor licensed sites and mitigate any negative impacts on surrounding land use and human populations was vital to the success of this work. Structures such as ‘beaver deceivers’ can help alleviate flooding in unwelcome areas. This is where I hoped that the artwork would have a small part to play in this process, helping interpret and explain to people the positive role of beavers on ecosystems as well as deflating a few myths.

The two sites we visited that day varied. The impression of the first site was completely unexpected and surprising. It was described as a ‘periglacial wood pasture’ – boggy, criss-crossed by channels, with various grasses, mosses and trees growing in different directions with a backdrop of pioneer birch, and then oak. It was a tricky landscape to traverse, with a sense of very much being in another creature’s territory and not being that welcome! As we made our way across the site, a section of ponds and dams was revealed. This was repeated at the second site, which was more linear, again a succession of ponds and dams, but dotted along a river valley. As the damming created ponds, the rising water level had encompassed the base of nearby trees. Broken light filtered through. The watercourse changed further downstream, the dams becoming bigger and more elaborate, until we reached a very large pond with a dam which was big enough and established enough to walk across. Occasionally the dams break and the beavers re-engineer them (re-wiggling them) to create >

11 Dreadnought Trading Estate, Bridport DT6 5BU 01308 458443 www.bridporttimber.co.uk

Hardwood Flooring Specialists Registered Farrow & Ball Stockist In-Can Tinting Bespoke In-Home Colour Consultancy Certified Bona Contractor

Image: Dave Watts

a stronger structure, with greater surface area making contact with the water. The dams have a drop of several metres on the downstream side. It was incredible to walk across this dam and experience the beaver’s engineering skills in this way. It was clear that the whole team would take the experience of the visit to these unique habitats into consideration and that the initial design would need to be re-wilded further. I was excited to see how this might evolve and how wild they would go.

Seeing the garden at Chelsea, and understanding more about its evolution to something much wilder, was moving and to observe people’s responses was inspiring. The attention to detail was astonishing, and the planting exquisite, thanks to people such as Landscape Associates, Water Artisans, West Country Hedge Layer, Hillside Conservation and Leaf Creative. Supported by Project Giving Back and Rewilding Britain, the garden was a perfect slice of West Country in the middle of London and faithfully presented many of the main elements from the site visits. This even included a silted, murky pond and water filtering through the dam to create a clear stream with gravel beds, which in the wild would be ideal for spawning salmon and trout.

The garden won not only a gold medal but also RHS Best Show Garden. The richness and detailing of the design, bravery of the concept and importance of the idea warranted this achievement. Watching it on BBC, the decision generated much discussion. Was it a garden? From my experience of visiting Chelsea and seeing many of the other gardens, I was left with the question of not only what constituted a garden but also the role gardens play in our lives. Is it not only to do with our relationship with and understanding of nature, and where and how we engage with it, but also the questions and choices we must now face given unsustainable pressures on the natural world? Chelsea is very much a blank canvas onto which ingenuity is applied and ideas are sown to inspire us, whatever we might want to take from them.

Beavers bring so much to the landscape, almost single-handedly positively transforming not only the upper stretches of river courses but also having benefits further downstream as well. Their moving of sticks and debris helps provide opportunities for diverse fungi habitats and improves soil and water quality, and changes in water movement. Beavers’ activity creates important and much-needed space for amphibians, fish, small birds and mammals. They are remarkable creatures. But maybe just as important is the way this whole project, along with the beavers themselves, might just be the story we all need to engage more people to appreciate our own place in the natural order, not outside of it – to capture people’s imaginations to take positive action to safeguard the future of the natural world, wherever we relate to it. Without visionary work like this, what we all stand to lose seems unimaginable.

paulnewmanartist.com urquharthunt.com

RUNNING UP (AND DOWN) THAT HILL (A LOT)

Peter Littlewood, Director, Young People’s Trust for the Environment

The timing is perfect. Kate Bush’s 1985 hit Running Up That Hill is back at number one in the charts, thanks to being featured in the latest season of Netflix’s phenomenal Stranger Things. Perfect, because that hit brings to mind a couple of people who are going to be running up a particular hill rather a lot in August.

If someone told you they were climbing to the top of Mount Everest, right here in Dorset, you’d probably think they were a bit mad. Well, guess what? That’s exactly what happened to me a couple of months ago, when I was first contacted by Charlie Lickiss about a challenge he and his friend Archie Parks had set themselves. What’s more, they wanted to do it in aid of the Young People’s Trust for the Environment.

Did I think they were a bit mad? Well, I was certainly confused! How on Earth were they going to do it? We’ve got some reasonably big hills here in Dorset, but there’s nothing you could call a mountain.

When Charlie explained how he and Archie intended to complete their challenge, I could see they had a plan, but I simply couldn’t imagine the amount of effort involved. I still can’t!

Their substitute for Mount Everest was to be Hambledon Hill, the summit of which is 192 metres above sea level. If you’ve ever been up there, you’ll know it’s tall, steep and a tough climb, but it’s not exactly the Himalayas!

So to climb the equivalent height of Mount Everest, Charlie and Archie will be running up and down Hambledon Hill (a lot) on the 6th and 7th of August. They estimate that they will cover a distance of 168km whilst reaching the 8,848 metre equivalent of climbing Everest. That’s about four marathons in distance and the equivalent of running up and down Snowdon EIGHT times!

I still struggle to comprehend just how much of a challenge that is going to be. I mean, I do a 5km run three or four times a week, which has a couple of uphill stretches. Depending on the day, that can feel quite tough. But 168km, pretty much entirely up and down a big hill? That’s crazy!

So why are they doing it? Well, as Archie admits on their fundraising page, he and Charlie are bonkers, but they can’t wait to give it a go! Both are veterans of endurance racing and they’ve been doing a lot of training for their challenge already.

‘We are both passionate about the environment and outdoor sports.’ Archie told me. ‘So we wanted to take on a challenge that incorporated both of those things’. Charlie went on to say, ‘The work Peter and the team do at the YPTE is amazing, so we wanted to show our support doing what we love!’

Of course, to complete their amazing challenge, they’re going to need lots of encouragement. ‘We will need as much support as possible on the day.’ says Charlie. ‘So feel free to come along and watch us attempt Everest (in Dorset). Base camp is at the Shroton Cricket Club but if you can’t make it in person and still want to show your support, you can donate to our Go Fund Me page by searching ‘Everest Running Challenge 2022’ on the Go Fund Me website.’

Charlie and Archie’s Hambledon Everest Challenge will start at 3pm on 6th August and is likely to last for around 24 hours. I am still utterly in awe of what they are planning to do. It is an absolutely monumental challenge and I remain amazed that they actually want to do it. I really hope they succeed and am extremely grateful to them both on behalf of YPTE.

ypte.org.uk

Charlie and Archie’s GoFundMe page can be found at gofund.me/f96a51fc. Do please support them if you can.

TERRAIN THEORY

Paula Carnell, Beekeeping Consultant, Writer and Speaker

Sushaaa/Shutterstock

Ifirst came across ‘terrain theory’ during the first year of the Medical Herbalist Course I am studying, and was excited by it as it made so much sense. I incorporate it in my Naturopathic Beekeeping Course and it really has become integral in the understanding of my health and wellbeing. A recent hard week’s work supporting my husband at Chelsea Flower Show, gave me cause to revisit terrain theory.

There are two opposing theories on which medicine is based – germ and terrain. In the west, our modern medicine is following Louis Pasteur’s germ theory which believes that all illness comes from ‘without’. We ‘catch’ a cold and that babies are born as sterile clean organisms which the outside world then pollutes.

Terrain theory, championed by Claude Beauchamp, stated, and proved, that babies are in fact born with many of the bacteria and viruses known to man, in their mouths, each with the potential to develop should the conditions be favourable.

Areas for debate in both theories arise when people

in the same area all suffer with the same sickness, and when people exposed to sickness do not all fall ill. When chatting about this during a Jubilee street party, I came up with the following analogy; getting a fever. Our common response is to suppress it with paracetamol or other chemical intervention. Fevers arise when our body is sending our antibodies to an invading substance, toxin, or bacteria, to break it down. (Lindlahr has an excellently descriptive term ‘morbid matter’.) Our super-efficient antibodies are busy breaking down and processing the offending items – all this activity creates heat/energy, which we notice with a temperature. There are of course times when a temperature can and does get out of control, so it is important to have an understanding of the body’s mechanism before taking full responsibility for outcomes. By suppressing the fever, we are slowing down the activity of our antibodies. I likened it to reducing our toilets to a trickle rather than a hearty flush! Sometimes we need a good flush out, fast and furious, even somewhat scary.

During and after Chelsea Flower Show, a very high percentage of the team who worked there were sick, with coughs (the well-known ‘Chelsea cough’ from the tree pollens), colds and sore throats. Germ theory would then conclude that a virus was present that got passed around to all exposed to it and vulnerable. Terrain theory would say that the environment allowed the immune systems of those there to become weak and that the additional environmental toxins, not usually exposed to, needed to be removed from the body, coughs etc.

Personally, I had to contemplate this and look at my own situation. I loved being at Chelsea, however, I was doing long hours in a physical job that is not my passion or purpose (serving cyder samples to visitors). The days were a minimum of 12 hours, sometimes 15. I didn’t eat properly or healthily, drank too little water, didn’t get enough sleep and was exposed to toxins I usually avoid – non-organic food, alcohol, sugar, air pollution, tap water and excessive EMF radiation. My body needed to cleanse itself after all these shocks to its system.

I often only realise just how healthy my body is when I am away and realise just how difficult it is to find organic food and really pure water to drink, let alone get a good night’s sleep!

Does it matter which theory is correct?

On reflection, I think not. Personally, I like to understand why I am unwell, and how best to recover so I can prepare in future. Germ theory makes me feel vulnerable and helpless – any bug could come and get me and I’d be helpless.

Terrain theory helps me prepare and know that by supporting my immune system and being conscious of what toxins are entering my body I can maintain good health. After all, I am living proof that the body can recover from a genetic condition (Ehlers Danlos syndrome).

Bee research has also found that bees carry all manner of viruses and a balance of good and bad bacteria in their guts, not always fully presenting as illness. We also know that the environment bees inhabit affects their health and wellbeing. Bees also selfmedicate – two hives positioned next to each other in an apiary, will select different food sources depending on their medicinal properties and the needs of the colonies. If we place bees in a more healthy and less stressful environment they are more resistant to illnesses.

Marla Spivak and her team at Minnesota University have been studying this using the bees’ own super substance, propolis, finding that when colonies are able to surround themselves in a propolis ‘envelope’ they are able to resist the most virulent of bee diseases, European foulbrood. The environment that we are sharing with our bees and pollinators is affecting their health, and of course our own. The bees really are the canaries in the coal mine, showing us just how damaging so many stressors and pollutants are to our health. Being able to see for myself such an extreme example of putting myself into a stressful, albeit fun and exciting, environment which was far removed from my usual healthy surroundings has really brought it home to me how health and wellbeing truly is a combination and balance of many factors. Next time at Chelsea, I will ensure that I take my own organic food, or source a supplier for when I am there. I will also take breaks, and certainly won’t volunteer to serve cyder for 12-hour shifts again!

Finally, I will make sure I have AT LEAST three days off afterwards to rest and recuperate. In simple terms, it comes down to knowing when to say ‘no’. To make certain I don’t repeat the mistakes of this year, I now have Bee (my new admin assistant really is called Bee!) blocking out my diary for next year, and having a ‘Chelsea survival pack’ on file ready to go! Surrounding myself with ‘Bees’ always teaches me something new!