adventures in space and in time – Stories from Nowhere Wood

The Queen of May

May 1, 2026

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May Day is gathered together in Nowhere Wood. The guests are all assembled, having arrived in timely order, ready for the magical day. First to arrive was the wild garlic, clean and green with the freshness of a memory of good times around the family table. Then the first bluebell opened up to the sky,…

The wise birds of Nowhere Wood

Jan 26, 2026

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Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, being and becoming, folklore, life depends on life, Oneness, organisms are organised, pass on information, sustainable, winter stories

After dark, we can hear the tawny owls that live in the old oak by the pond, calling to each other, “tu-wit, tu-woo”. In the woods and hedges around the hamlet of Nowhere, where the ancient oaks keep their own counsel and the paths disappear at dusk into darkness, there is an old tree with…

The mistletoe bough and New Year’s Eve

Dec 28, 2025

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Neil

in flow and recycle

Some of the trees in Trendlewood Park play host to mistletoe, an ancient plant with mythological powers. Mistletoe is easiest to see in winter. when the trees have given up their leaves. When older trees stand bare against the low sky, mistletoe hangs in their branches like dark thoughts. From the ground it looks an…

Yellow flowers

May 4, 2025

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Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, Diversity, folklore, Geometry and Beauty, life depends on life, spring stories, what is life?

Early spring in Nowhere Wood is the season of yellow flowers. Cowslips have an inelegant name: originally called ‘cow slops’, they were thought to grow where cows have trodden their poo into the ground. The old Somerset name of “bunch of keys” is much nicer – the arrangement of flowers on the head were thought…

A year in the life of a sugar factory

Nov 27, 2020

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Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, being and becoming, Cycles, flow and recycle, organisms are organised, spring stories

The leaves of plants are everywhere in Nowhere Wood, helping to keep the wood alive. Leaves are organs: collections of living tissues and cells, having adventures in time and space. This is the story of a year in the life of an oak leaf. Leaves are factories for making sugar from sunlight, water and carbon…

All change!

Nov 11, 2020

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Neil

in Adaptation, being and becoming, Cycles, flow and recycle, Oneness, organisms are organised, pass on information, what is life?

When you next look into a mirror ask yourself if you are the same person as you were yesterday. Well, of course you are. Even people who last met you ten years ago can still recognise you and call you by your name. Although they might add, “My, how you have grown!” And yet, if we…

Life is a relay race

Oct 26, 2020

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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…

Climbing the walls

Oct 25, 2020

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Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, autumn stories, Cycles, flow and recycle, life depends on life, pass on information, what is life?

A hundred years ago, Nowhere Wood was a sandstone quarry, and there is still a cliff face at the end of the wood.How can this hart’s tongue fern grow on a vertical cliff face about two metres from the ground. That is quite an adventure in time and space. This story explains how this fern…

Moving things on

Oct 22, 2020

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Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, autumn stories, being and becoming, Cycles, flow and recycle, Health, Interdependence, life depends on life, Oneness, the environment

The weather is warm and wet in Nowhere Wood. These are perfect conditions for growing the fungi that spread everywhere throughout the soil of Nowhere Wood. Fungi are Nature’s recyclers, feeding on the fallen leaves, fruits and wood. Fungi feed on the wood of the dead oak trees, turning it into nutrients that provide energy and…

Squirrel wars

Oct 6, 2020

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Neil

in Adaptation, adventures in time and in space, autumn stories, being and becoming, Cycles, Health, life depends on life, Oneness

One hundred and fifty years ago, the oak woods near Nowhere would have been home to red squirrels. Now they have all disappeared. The red squirrels have been replaced by grey squirrels that were introduced into the UK from the United States in the 1870s. Grey squirrels spread to nearly all parts of the UK,…

Organise and stay alive

Oct 4, 2020

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Neil

in Adaptation, autumn stories, Geometry and Beauty, organisms are organised, what is life?

Living organisms have very organised structures. Everything depends upon the way that the different parts of their bodies work together. The parts of this watch work together, so that the hands of the watch move round in a rhythm that we use to tell the time. The hands do this because of the precise organisation…

Tag: adventures in space and in time