Down to Earth

BEACHCOMBING with JO BELASCO BA Hons History of Architecture and Design

Photographers’ customers go to a studio and are often ‘choreographed’ on luxurious sofas. I used to view seaweed as a ‘sofa’ for beautiful sea-glass! Just a pretty back-drop really. But slowly my thoughts are shifting. I was too busy marvelling and trying to identify the bottle necks and kick-ups. Too busy thinking how to show off the opaque frosted look and wavemoulded shapes. So lost in the fun of the different seaglass colours – Kelly Green, Sea-foam and Ice Aqua that I didn’t notice the beauty of the seaweed. Sometimes, Mother Nature and Old Father Sea create jewellery-grade pieces as you can see in the photos and it’s hard to top the feeling you get when you find one of those! But gradually seaweed is becoming an interest in its own right. Whereas there are many wonderful books, websites and groups for sea-glass lovers it is not the same for seaweed fans. Of course, there is a lot of information out there, but the majority is so scientific and specialised it goes over my head. So I start gingerly with just one seaweed type. Even after umpteen hours of research and brain picking I cannot definitively swear that I have its name correct. I shall be brave and put it out there. This is probably Solieria Chordalis. For years a substance called carrageenan has been extracted from the red seaweed and used in the food industry. Hold your horses! – but now the experts are rowing over whether it should be withdrawn as they can prove it is inflammatory. On the other side experts are calling the proof flawed. So instead of conjuring up a delicious jus of the otherwise known Soldiers Red String, I decided it was far safer to make art with it. When I found it on Weymouth Bay it did remind me of Dougal the dog’s hair from The Magic Roundabout! A quick google and I see all I need to make a seaweed print is some watercolour paper and old newspapers for absorbing excess water over a period of maybe five days (depending on the thickness of the seaweed you use). Don’t forget, heavy books to press it down. Here’s a preview. It’s not quite dried yet –work in progress. My husband Steve thinks the Dougal one is more like a horse and the other we both agree (that’s rarer than red sea glass!) looks like an Afghan hound shaking water off.

WEED ALL ABOUT IT: The seaweed print of an Afghan shaking off water, sea glass on a bed of seaweed, on the shore at Weymouth and, left, Dougal from the Magic Roundabout or possibly a horse’s head

Seaweed a thing of beauty

The West Dorset Magazine, October 21, 2022 47 Down to earth Nature’s amazing colour palette always delights

Sally Cooke lives in Tolpuddle with her husband, two grown up sons and her spotty rescue dog. You can follow Sally on Instagram at Sparrows in a Puddle

We are busy having the bedrooms decorated for the first time in several years. As someone who’s always a bit reluctant to move away from safe neutral tones, I was quite impressed that older son chose to have his room painted orange. Of course, in these days of colour matching and mixing to order, he had well over 100 shades of ‘orange’ to choose from. The paint is drying as I write and he is pleased with the vibrant colour, but as I walked the dog in the woods this morning I was struck by how even 100 shades is nothing compared with nature’s colour palette in autumn. October is a stunningly beautiful month as the leaves change from green to a myriad of shades of yellow, orange, red and brown before falling or being blown to the ground. With less sunshine available to them the trees reduce their food production (photosynthesis) and conserve their energy in preparation for winter. The green chlorophyll pigment in the leaves starts to break down and the other pigments carotene (yellow) and anthocyanin (red) dominate. The depth of colour during the autumn is influenced by day and night-time temperatures, rainfall and the level of sunshine, and no two autumns are the same. The ever-optimistic Anne of Green Gables, one of my favourite childhood book characters, said: ‘I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers’ and I am too, but this time of year is also associated with a little nostalgia. I’m generally someone who thinks forward rather than back, but not when I see a toddler in his wellies discovering the fun of playing in the leaves for the first time! Or when I see the latest set of schoolchildren throwing leaves at each other under The Martyrs’ Tree as they wait for the school bus. Tolpuddle’s huge sycamore tree is well over 300 years old and is famous for its connection with the Martyrs’ story and the start of the trade union movement. But this doesn’t mean much to the children playing, their lives may be very different from ‘back in our day’, let alone in the time of the Martyrs, but playing in the autumn leaves is timeless and joyful, if you get a chance, go and join in!

A rare chance to enjoy a drink with Myrtle

JOHN WRIGHT is a naturalist and forager who lives in rural West Dorset. He has written eight books, four of which were for River Cottage. He wrote the awardwinning Forager’s Calendar and in 2021 his Spotter’s Guide to Countryside Mysteries was published.

I have a great fondness for Myrica gale, denizen of damp, acidic soils, where it vies for dominance with heather. It is a short shrub that forms appropriately low forests. It is also known as Bog Myrtle, and its scientific name is Myrica gale. We are well blessed with the plant in Dorset, but it is considered to be ‘nearthreatened’, which really means that its habitat is threatened if you find it at all, there will be hundreds of plants. Still, you only need a handful of leaves, for it is used as a herb. In this and in flavour it is not unlike bay. More aromatic than the leaves are the pretty catkins. It has a long history of use in brewing, being one of the aromatic plants used in ales before hops dominated. I have made a home brew with it, eschewing hops entirely. I had low expectations, but it was perfectly drinkable. Forewarned of one of its potential drawbacks, I took it easy and did not suffer the shocking hangover it is notorious for engendering. I have also used it to make bitters and a vermouth, for which I have added Sea Wormwood on the principle that it would not be vermouth without it. Having made Juniper toffee on the odd occasion (the crushed berries held in a muslin bag and disposedof later) I fancy that Sweet Gale toffee might be nice too. I will keep you posted on this – notably, whether or not I get a toffee-hangover. While you are out and about, do consider the haws that still adorn our hawthorns. They are ignored by nearly everyone, including, it seems, the birds. However, they make a nice Haw Gin infusion (add sugar), and a great ingredient in a fruit leather.

PAGAN VIEWS by JO BELASCO

I don’t know what you think about Spirit Animals? For myself I get muddled up between Power Animals, Totem Animals and Spirit Animals! But I am very drawn to swans. Luckily, in the winter months the birds from Abbotsbury Swannery often choose to hang out at Rodden Hive near Langton Herring. I find it a very beguiling spot with its wild iris, spartan coast-scape and secret hide. Last week, I was walking along at Langton Herring minding my own business when out of the corner of my eye I saw something glinting. It was a friendship bracelet, pictured, part woven and part silver. There seemed to be some engraving on the bracelet, I peered closer to see a capital R. I wondered who R was and who had made the bracelet for them. Into my gentle reverie came this piercing, raucous sound: RRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Yeah, I was a bit spooked. I walked on and the sound got wilder and stronger, but intermittent. Well, I couldn’t just walk past could I? I leaned out at Rodden Hive to look closer at the area the sound seemed to be coming from. There, hopping up and down frantically, was a big white bird. Jumping up and down as if attempting to pull itself out of a tangle. I was tempted to wade out to try to rescue the bird. However, the triple guard of avian flu, sinking sands and a potential broken nose from an angry swan deterred me. Instead, I rang the reserve office and they contacted the swan herd Steve Grave, who went to check and then kindly got back to me. He thinks what I saw was a young egret attempting to catch a fish in the flooded reed beds. It was such a relief when he explained that egrets often flap their wings about to try to scare fish into the open. I should have asked him about the mysterious name sign as you enter Langton Herring: “Doubly thankful”. However, on my way back to the car just sitting there at the side of a field I spotted a clue. More plaques this time with the lyrics of Imagine by John Lennon and the poem, Break of Day In the Trenches by Isaac Rosenberg and a metal statue of a First World War soldier. Ah, “Doubly thankful” – that no one from the village had died in either World War.

IT’S A GOOD SIGN: The plaque at Rodden Hive showing swans to the right and, inset, my picture inspired by swans. Below: A sculpture commemorating the First World War with the village in the background and, right, the sign at Langton Herring It’s a hive of activity around Rodden & Langton Herring

The West Dorset Magazine, October 21, 2022 49 Down to earth Wrap up warm and come stargazing

Kevin Quinn is a Dark Sky Custodian for the Cranborne Chase Dark Sky Reserve who lives in Piddletrenthide. Read his blog at theastroguy.wordpress.com

Something that gets overlooked rather a lot in discussions about stargazing and astronomy is the social aspect. It’s often regarded as a rather solitary pursuit … However, I've been very lucky recently in this respect, having taken part in a public stargazing session in Cerne Abbas that was very well attended, and which gave many of the attendees their first views of Saturn, Jupiter, the Andromeda galaxy, the globular cluster Messier 13, and more … the little car park overlooking the Cerne giant was buzzing with excitement, and ringing with ‘wows’ and ‘goshes’. It was great fun, and I’m looking forward to the next one. Another fantastic recent social event was the twice yearly Astrocamp, organised by the Awesome TREE SURGERY & Astronomy organisation and held in Wales’ Brecon GARDEN MAINTENANCEBeacons: an unmissable three-dayer of observing, 07826030706talks, quizzes, and general astro-chat. I’ve been going to these events since 2014, and have only missed a couple, and have made many friends there. Highly recommended. The highlights of the recent Astrocamp have to be, apart from meeting up with friends, the super dark and clear skies on the Saturday, which gave great views of the Andromeda galaxy, the Ring and Veil nebulae, and galaxies M81 & 82, amongst many other things, all with my own scope, and a planetary nebula called the Blue Oyster (a new one for me) viewed through a friend’s 16in scope. Fantastic! Then there were the talks, covering everything astro from collimating a telescope, to planetary photography, and an excellent talk on the Antikythera mechanism. There was even a very well received talk by someone who’d recently been on an astro-adventure in Namibia … Even though two of the three nights were cloudy, it was still a fantastic event. You can find out more about Astrocamp at astrocamp.awesome astronomy.com/ Closer to home, the Wessex Astronomical Society holds fortnightly public stargazing sessions at Durlston Head, near Swanage (find details on GoStargazing.co.uk). Stargazing sessions in the Cranborne Chase Dark Sky Reserve have restarted following the hiatus caused by covid, with the next one at Sutton Veny on November 17. Again, you can find details

of future events in and around Cranborne Chase on the GoStargazing.co.uk website. The Dorchester Area Stargazers Facebook group will also feature details of ad hoc sessions. There really is something special about coming together and appreciating the awe inspiring sights of the night sky. People have been doing so since time immemorial, and such shared experiences are surely a major contributing factor in social cohesion and cultural development. In less lofty terms, star parties and public astro AMAZING get-togethers are great fun, GAZING: Mars and the Crab Nebula as seen first and foremost, and are good ways of meeting in 10x50 people. Also, by being able binoculars and, to try out different scopes,right, telescopes ready at a recent Astrocamp they're a great way of learning what equipment might be best for you, and what you can expect to see. Speaking of what there is to see, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are still around in the evenings, the former approaching opposition on December 8 and still very close to the Crab Nebula. Neptune and Uranus are also relatively easy finds at the moment, though binoculars and a star map app will be needed. Then there’s the return of the winter constellations of Orion with its incredible nebula, Auriga, Gemini, Taurus and Monoceros with their dazzling star clusters … so why not wrap up warm, pack a Thermos or hip flask, install a star map on your phone and go out and enjoy the sights.