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Stories from Nowhere Wood

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Category: Interdependence

Cuckoo flowers in the spring

Apr 22, 2026

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by

Neil

in climate change, folklore, Geometry and Beauty, Interdependence, spring stories

Spring has arrived—but the world is not yet settled. In an uncertain climate, people choose uncertainty and so does the weather. Sun, rain, frost and wind – the persistent wind blowing through the meadows. Spring marches onwards, regardless. The cuckoo flower with its dainty lilac flowers hides in the unmown grass, shielded from the biting…
The titmice of Nowhere Wood

Mar 17, 2026

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by

Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, being and becoming, Diversity, flow and recycle, Interdependence, life depends on life, spring stories

[titmice is an old English name for birds of the Paridae family, including blue and great tits. It is also a term familiar to the American readers of these stories.] This is a bright and early sunlit story, chipper with the sounds of Spring: “Ti-ti-pu, ti-tipu….tsee-tsee-tsee”. The quick, little, sharp notes, ticking up from the…
The badgers of Nowhere Wood – a February story

Feb 22, 2026

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by

Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, being and becoming, Diversity, Interdependence, life depends on life, Oneness, organisms are organised, spring stories, the environment, winter stories

There are badgers in Nowhere Wood. For the first time, we think. This is their February story. Imagine living in a dark world shaped by scent, vibration and touch — where wind carries stories and the air itself guides you back to the mouth of your sett. A world of kinship and inherited ground. Of…
The spring…

Dec 4, 2025

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by

Neil

in climate change, Cycles, flow and recycle, folklore, Health, Interdependence, sustainable, the environment, the sustainable park series, winter stories

This is the first part of a two-part story in the sustainable park series of stories. First comes the summer rain, after weeks of drought. Then the wet drizzly, misty days, then the powerful storm from the bay of Biscay, and gradually the water table rises from its summer low. The ancient spring fills and…
The tunnelling armies beneath carpets of gold

Nov 12, 2025

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by

Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, autumn stories, being and becoming, Cycles, Diversity, flow and recycle, Health, Interdependence, life depends on life, Oneness, organisms are organised, sustainable, the environment, what is life?

It is early November in the park, and carpets of fallen leaves are piling up across the earth in sodden heaps, driven by the autumn winds and rains. The browns of the oak, the sycamore ambers and the golds of the beeches. Beneath the old apple tree, the king of the orchard, fallen apples lie…
Trick or treat?

Oct 31, 2025

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by

Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, autumn stories, being and becoming, Cycles, Diversity, flow and recycle, folklore, Health, Interdependence, life depends on life, organisms are organised, sustainable, the environment, what is life?

A traveller on the pathways, weary after many miles of walking, looks up into the hedgerow and sees the silky feathery threads surrounding the dark fruits. The sight brings the traveller an uplifting joy, at least according to John Gerard in his 1597 herbal. He called it ‘travellers joy’. It has other names. It is…
A different kind of woodpecker

Nov 5, 2024

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by

Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, being and becoming, Diversity, Geometry and Beauty, Interdependence, spring stories

If you look carefully at this image, you can see another woodpecker, but one that is quite different to the great spotted woodpecker that starred in our last story. This is a green woodpecker. Can you see why? These two kinds of woodpecker are able to live together all year round in…
Celebrating mushroom season!

Oct 22, 2025

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by

Neil

in adventures in time and in space, autumn stories, being and becoming, Cycles, flow and recycle, Geometry and Beauty, Interdependence, life depends on life, organisms are organised, the environment, what is life?

Everyone agrees, it is an outstanding mushroom season. The dry summer and the warm wet autumn have created the perfect conditions for these mysterious forms which spend most of their lives living underground. Quietly, but with ruthless effectiveness, they influence and shape the growth of the trees in the wood. But, what is a mushroom?…
Hard hats, safety specs and camouflage jackets

Oct 25, 2024

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by

Neil

in adventures in time and in space, Cycles, Diversity, Geometry and Beauty, Interdependence, life depends on life, organisms are organised, spring stories

It is a January morning, misty and still. The air hangs silently in Nowhere Wood. Suddenly close, but just out of sight, a loud and fast drumming shakes the stillness. Then a silent pause, followed by a quieter drumming coming from the other end of the wood. Let’s find the first drummer. He’s hard to…
Fruits of the autumn

Jan 20, 2022

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by

Neil

in Adaptation, autumn stories, Cycles, Diversity, Geometry and Beauty, Interdependence, life depends on life, pass on information

Autumn is the time for fruits to become ripe enough for animals to eat. This time last year, Nowhere Wood was full of ripe acorns and the squirrels and birds had a heyday. This year, there are no acorns, at all. Life is uncertain, in Nowhere Wood. Somewhere, inside a fruit, is a seed and…
I bear their homes, too

Jul 9, 2025

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by

Neil

in adventures in time and in space, being and becoming, Diversity, folklore, Interdependence, life depends on life, Oneness, summer stories, what is life?

For Jules Acton, author of Oaklore. The old oak tree said to the traveller passing by: “You know me, you see me everyday. I am that oak tree that has stood here longer than any of can you remember.” “I am on the 1840 Ordnance Survey map and I was a sturdy tree, even back…
A home for the summer

Jul 7, 2025

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by

Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, being and becoming, climate change, Diversity, Geometry and Beauty, Interdependence, life depends on life, summer stories

By the high summer of July, the new fresh leaves of the horse chestnut are losing their lustre. The proud spread of leaves are now crumpled and marked—creased with dry, papery wounds edged in rust. At first glance, it looks like disease or drought. But the truth is stranger, and smaller. These are the workings…
The Lords and Ladies of Nowhere Wood

Jun 5, 2025

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by

Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, autumn stories, being and becoming, Cycles, flow and recycle, Geometry and Beauty, Interdependence, life depends on life, organisms are organised, spring stories, summer stories

Nowhere Wood in late winter is a place of bare branches, weak shadowy light and unspoken secrets, waiting for new leaves start to emerge. On the woodland floor, hidden beneath the shade of hazel and hawthorn, something strange is happening. By April, it is fully revealed. It’s not flashy, no pretty flower show. Just a…
Safety in numbers

Oct 22, 2021

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by

Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, autumn stories, being and becoming, Geometry and Beauty, Interdependence, organisms are organised

These animals look like cars parked in the autumn sunshine. They look harmless enough, but they have some gruesome secrets. What are they and what are they doing? They are called cluster flies, and they are warming their bodies in the sun, before flying to feed on the fruits of the wood. They are having…
A tale of two butterflies

May 28, 2025

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by

Neil

in Adaptation, being and becoming, climate change, Cycles, Diversity, Geometry and Beauty, Interdependence, summer stories, the environment

It is a sunny afternoon in May and two butterflies are flying round each other in a shaft of sunlight. The smaller one chases the larger one away. I first thought they were a courting pair, but then realised they are different types. Where do they come from and what are they doing in the…
The story of bluebells

May 6, 2025

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by

Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, Diversity, Geometry and Beauty, Interdependence, summer stories, what is life?

If primroses and cowslips are our favourite flowers of early Spring, then it is the bluebells that steal our hearts in early Summer. On a sunny day, they dust the floor of the wood in a blue mist. Many poets have written in wonder of them. Alfred, Lord Tennyson may have walked the bluebell woods…
The Apple Tree Man of Nowhere

Jan 11, 2025

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by

Neil

in adventures in time and in space, folklore, Health, Interdependence, Oneness, winter stories

Once upon a time, there lived a young man called Henry Summers, who lived at the Farmhouse over at the East End, just below the quarry. He was a wise man, strong in the arm and of calm manner. He never beat his animals or his wife. The family farmed ten fields and had several…
The singing trees

Feb 10, 2021

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by

Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, Diversity, Interdependence, life depends on life, winter stories

Winter has come to Nowhere Wood and ice has formed around the fallen trees in the pond. Everything shivers and wood is silent again. Squirrels search for food in the frozen mud, but everything else is waiting, biding its time. Silent, except for an ancient overgrown hedge formed from a row of old trees, bound together…
Subterranean superheroes

Dec 4, 2020

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by

Neil

in Adaptation, autumn stories, Cycles, Diversity, flow and recycle, Health, Interdependence

The leaves covering the floor of Nowhere Wood are slowly disappearing in the mild December nights. Fog hangs in the air. The wood is preparing for winter and everywhere is quiet and still. Most of the real action is taking place below the ground, but what is making the leaves disappear? The culprits are…
Life is a relay race

Oct 26, 2020

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by

Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, Cycles, Interdependence, Oneness, pass on information

This story continues the adventures of the ferns in Nowhere Wood. The first part of the story is Climbing the walls. The genome of the fern contains essential information that the fern needs to grow and make new cells. At different times the fern produces spores, sperm and eggs and the two forms of the…

Stories from Nowhere Wood

reflections on the world of Nowhere Wood, Nailsea

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