Nature Diary
I haven’t ventured far outside my local radius of late. No big walks or new places to discover. I should add that ‘local’ for me, is something like a 15-20km radius. Although the people connected to these tiny postcodes are curiously attached to their addresses, the non-human creatures are less so, which means there’s more to see on my walks.
While rock-pottering around some of my favourite rockpools and platforms I usually find a plethora of minuscule marine delights, but it’s been quiet lately, or I’ve been impatient. In the absence of critters I’ve been enjoying the equally captivating sandstone rock formations.
Outside of the sea-scape, I’ve been marvelling how verdant the bush/forest and gardens look, everything seems so alive. There is not a single walk, however short and familiar that I am not amazed by something. Just the other day, one of the resident White Bellied Sea Eagles I see occasionally, flew right overhead, huge wings outstretched. Above it, a hang glider peered down and changed trajectory to get a better.
We stood at the usual whale-watching vantage point on another walk recently, not expecting to see much apart from a few surfers and beachgoers. It wasn’t long before we spotted activity in the waves. A pod of what we estimated to be over forty dolphins engaged in pursuit of an enormous school of fish. What appeared to be a frenzied feeding, turned out to be a deliberate coordinated attack. We watched as the dolphins meticulously herded the fish, surrounded at all sides while taking turns ducking and diving to feed. Such a spectacle.
On the smaller end of the scale. Scale, being the operative world, I found my first ever snake skin yesterday! It must have been shed very recently and was small and slim, and very near a garden densely populated by frogs. Although I would have loved to have touched it, it was hanging from a gap in a rock crevice. Best not to pull it only to discover the snake still attached, I reasoned. I love snakes, I find them utterly fascinating. I’ve had very few interactions with them in these parts however, despite seeing regular posts alluding to the various species spotted in gardens. A simple Carpet Python would suffice. I’ve seen quite a few Red Bellied Black Snakes on bushwalks, but again, not much closer to home. Maybe I’ll find the owner of the skin on my next outing.
Read // Article - What Plants Are Saying About Us - Nautilus Magazine
This piece popped up in my Instagram feed recently and it is fascinating. I’ve read a fair bit about trees and their methods of communication, but in this piece writer Amanda Gefter explores plant cognition, in particular, she looks at research from Paco Calvo who has discovered the various ways plants synthesise information. Questioning cartesian dualism, the rather shaky lens through which most philosophical, and indeed physiological science still references, Calvo explores a framework of “embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive cognition”.
This framework of 4E Cognition seems implicit in many indigenous cultures, early religions and modern new-age or neopagan perspectives. The idea is that there is consciousness in everything, with or without a physical brain.
Watch // Aunty Fran Bodkin - The Importance of Associations Between Australian Native Plant Species - Ethnogenesis
This theme of philosophy, consciousness and ethnobotany got me thinking about Australian botany professor Aunty Fran Bodkin, whom I first heard here on Conversations. Having heard her amazing story I went searching for more and I was reminded of this presentation from 2019 for Ethnogenesis Australia (an organisation dedicated to ethnobotany). In both the interview and the presentation Aunty Fran Bodkin talks about the interconnectedness of plant species, and her experience of multisensory learning and teaching outside the western science paradigm. Her passion is contagious and her knowledge is so engaging for anyone who loves plants. How lucky we are to have such incredible knowledge still available to us, and so generously shared.
Listen // Ologies - Ethnoecology - Leigh Joseph
“The what, where, and who of native plants is … ethnobotany!”. This interview on Olgies with Squamish First Nation botanist Leigh Joseph is fascinating. In particular I loved how she spoke about hearing a recording of plant names spoken by elders in Squamish language. Again, this episode reflects the importance of First Nations knowledge and the specificity of knowledge, use and application of plants and the adaptation, naturalisation and integration of non-native plant species. I really enjoyed Leigh’s story of harvesting and her inner knowing of what not to pick.
Listen // Panpsychism - In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg & Guests
As luck would have it, this episode popped up in my podcasts app today. The panel discusses panpsychism, the idea that a kind of consciousness exists not just in our human brains but throughout the universe, right down to cells and electrons. This ties in neatly with the Paco Calvo research, and notion that while plants don’t have an anatomical brain, as we know it, that they may have consciousness, in ways that we don’t yet know. I had not heard of the term panpsychism prior to this discussion, but I found myself nodding along with two of the guests and in particular Joanna Leidenhag, Associate Professor in Theology and Philosophy at the University of Leeds who was the first to mention the link between this relatively modern philosophical theory and indigenous and religious thinking, finally. That reflection comes right at the end of the episode when there is a clear division between the panelists. I would have loved to have heard an indigenous perspective or panellist but it was an engaging listen nonetheless, in particular the references to Jungian and Freudian perspectives and their clear differences in science vs spirituality.
Natures notes is proudly written on and inspired by Dharawal Country. I recognise the Dharawal & Wodi Wodi custodians and ancestors who have an enduring connection to land, water and skies.
Always Was and Always Will be Aboriginal Land.