Winter Blessings and Beauties, Day 9: Noticing the Changing Season

You know, I think one of the traps people fall into when thinking about 'winter' is conceiving of it as a monolithic block of a season, a bleak dreary period during which the best thing you can do is just to put your head down and endure until the sun returns in the spring.

This is of course nonsense. Like all seasons, winter evolves and changes throughout its course. Noticing this seasonal evolution is simply a matter of paying attention to the ongoing subtle changes in the natural world.

Here in West Wales I am noticing that the rowan berries, blackberries and sloes of autumn have almost completely disappeared from the hedgerows, replaced by haws and holly berries. A few days ago I saw my first small flock of starlings - not enough to create a magical murmuration, but soon more and more will be gathering as they prepare to roost. The weather is still mostly mild, but we have had a few frosts. By the time a few more weeks have passed, it will almost certainly be much colder with frosty nights the norm. I hope I will be seeing some breath-taking starling murmurations, and the hungry birds will have begun to eat the winter berries and haws, leaving the hedges looking ever more stark. 

By watching winter change and develop through all its stages, we can move away from that mindset of having to endure an endless, dreary procession of cold, dark days instead seeing winter as a dynamic, constantly evolving being which we can savour and engage with. 

Winter Blessings and Beauties: Day 9

Note the Changes

Try to take a walk in nature each day, or failing that spend daily time in the garden or park. If you are unable to physically get out, it's still possible to observe the changes through a window by watching how the weather, trees, birds, animals, plants etc in your area adjust and transform week by week. Make notes in your journal about your observations. Press leaves and flowers, take photos, make sketches, make lists of the species you identify. As time passes, look back and see how winter has developed and changed over the weeks...