#97: Ronald Blythe

Ronald Blythe died earlier this year, just after his 100th birthday.

He referred to local plants in an areas as "a form of permanent geography".

His writing spans many decades, and includes some classic texts.  There is a great deal that has been written both by and about him.

I recommend starting to build up your Blythe library to introduce students to the work of someone who was tied to a place, and looked at it in detail. 

He was closely linked with the late author Roger Deakin, who will also be mentioned here as well, particularly because of his book 'Wildwood', which was published posthumously.

He's one of the authors who is on my 'charity shop' list - whenever I go to a town I always check out the charity shop stacks and have certain letters I look at (if they are organised alphabetically that is...).

Akenfield has to be on the list of books, but also the various collections of his pieces for local newspapers and other publications.

It can be borrowed from the Internet Archive site.

There is also a 2022 anthology volume of his work called 'Next to Nature' which has come out recently, and contains a range of writing about natural history and what it means to connect with a place.

I'd be interested to hear your favourite Blythe pieces.

#67: Noticing Nature

This Twitter account is rather good and is well worth following. It is apparently the work of four women who are also putting together a book due out in September called 'Nature's Calendar'.

It shares ideas from a range of people and places, and would be a useful companion perhaps to Richard Mabey's 'Flora Britannica'. (see earlier blogpost on this book)

It is based on a Japanese concept of there being a whole range of seasons, each of which lasts just a few days at times.

The 72 Japanese micro-seasons are outlined here on this website.

The book comes out in September.

I would imagine that climate change is going to mess up these fine grained annual rhythms sadly...

#64: Natural History Reading List #4: Flora Britannica

This is a very sizeable book, which was published in 1996, after five years of effort.

You will find copies in second-hand book shops if you are fortunate. Used copies are also available online.

This is an essential addition to any departmental library for those teaching the new specification because of its focus.

It is a remarkable piece of work by Richard Mabey, supported by Common Ground (see blogpost about this organisation).

It covers the natural and naturalised plants of England, Scotland and Wales. 

It is a cultural book rather than a purely botanical ID guide. It looks at the role of wild plants in social life, arts, custom and landscape. These are all areas which are going to be in the draft specification I would imagine, and so this could be said to be one of the key sources for information and details on a range of areas for the new specification.

Also check out his rather smaller book: 'A Good Parcel of English Soil' on his childhood in what is now called Metroland and how nature reclaimed areas which people had left alone.

There are sections on a whole range of plants and trees, including vernacular names and specific locations. 

Weeds are included, as well as plants close to the sea, fruit and familiar plants, plants on common land, and plants in watery locations.

If one of the purposes of the new specification is for young people to know more about the plants they see in hedgerows and gardens on the way to school, this is going to be valuable.

If we take one example of a plant: the stinging nettle. We can learn a lot from the entry in the book for this plant.

This is apparently a plant that many young people can't identify.

Growing up in the 1960s and 70s in Yorkshire, with woods and common on the doorstep we were very familiar with this plant. It tends to grow close to human settlement and prefers woodland glades or river banks. It likes soils rich in phosphate, which tend to be those where domesticated animals have grazed and manured, or through burning, dumping of refuse or in graveyards. Straight away reading this we can see some human-nature relationships e.g. they are found in ruined crofts in Scotland despite the occupants leaving hundreds of years ago, and also on the sites of Romano-British villages.

The nettle family is called Urticaceae.

Its vernacular names including Devil's plaything, Hokey-pokey and Jinny nettle.

It causes a rash if touched (urticaria) and has given its name to a whole range of places including Nettlecombe in Dorset, for example, home to a Field Studies Council centre.

This gave me an idea straight away of using the gazetteer in Digimap for Schools to find which plants/trees/animals have the most places named after them, or which include the plant/tree/animal in their name.

They are a source / ingredient for food and ale, and were used as a subsistence food during the Irish Potato Famine, and the Second World War.

There are nettle eating competitions (don't try that at school) and some use the stings to ward off inflammation, and also restore circulation. They are also used to make fibres, and military clothing has previously been made from the thread. They can also be used to make a dye.

Image: Book cover - Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license

Nettle: https://www.pngall.com/nettle-png/download/111768