In search of the little green men

and giving those lords in return the right of nominating the parish priest.”

It seems obvious how this bound the landed gentry and their royal connections to the life of the church. As we all know England used to be a Roman colony. When the Romans withdrew they famously left us with their feats of engineering and sanitation. The aqueducts and Roman baths crumbled over the following centuries but one Roman import thrived – Christianity. It’s hard to think of Christianity as anything but English, but it had some trouble ousting the Pagan beliefs which preceded it. The Romans were masters of propaganda and knew the value of an image. When they colonised England they Romanised the people rather than destroying the previous ways of life, including worship – they blended the two together. Hundreds of years after the Romans left our shores churches were still being built which utilised this method of unifying beliefs. Carvings of green men decorated our churches right next to images of Jesus on the cross.

We hardly notice the green men in our midst any more. I had to have two trips to find the one at St Peter and St Paul’s church in Cattistock. Many carvings of the green man showcase the renewal of life with writhing tendrils regrowing after winter –rebirth which of course fits in with Christianity. Others like the examples at St Martin’s church at Shipton Gorge seem to be merely tamed, gentrified versions. The style depends on what time period they were created in, of course. Essentially, green men celebrate the wonder and necessity of nature and are therefore perfect for our environment-championing new King.

Trip to Wales’ Bannau Brycheiniog well worth it

Nearly every spring since 2014 I’ve been making the journey to Wales’ Brecon Beacons (or, more correctly, Bannau Brycheiniog) for Awesome Astronomy’s Astrocamp star party: an immensely fun gathering of stargazers from all over the country under the dark skies of the International Dark Sky Reserve. This particular event was exceptional, despite the unfavourable weather for two of the three nights. The clear skies on Sunday more than made up for the other two.

As well as some great talks and fun quizzes, and great views of stars, planets, galaxies, etc, we were treated to an amazing display of the Northern Lights. This was a first for me, and although the colours were muted visually, the camera picked up the stunning greens, pinks, purples and reds beautifully.

With solar activity set to increase over the next couple of years, it’s highly likely that we’ll see more of the aurora, even this far south. There are lots of aurora alert apps available (I use AuroraWatch UK), and suggest you try one.

If you have any interest in astronomy, I highly recommend making a visit to Astrocamp – more information can be

Sally Cooke lives in Tolpuddle with her husband, two grown-up sons and spotty rescue dog. She loves to photograph and write about the everyday wildlife she sees in her garden and on her daily dog walks. You can follow Sally on Instagram at Sparrows in a Puddle.