All About Magazine - Issue 16

24 / 60

Now is the time to shake off the winter blues. At
the risk of sounding like my great-aunt, I say that
taking a walk each day, no matter what the weather
throws at us, can really lift our spirits. Partly, it’s the
relaxing effects of exercise, partly it’s about
light. Curiously, even getting out on
the gloomiest days brings rewards;
it’s always brighter than the view
from the window.
It might just be a circuit
round the park or along the
canal, but there’s invariably
something to see, always
something different. It
might be a blackbird scuffing
up leaves in search of food, a
pied wagtail looping overhead,
calling its cheerful song or an odd,
unseasonal flower. Poppies in January?
Occasionally, it does happen and seeing the
unexpected is one of the pleasures of being out.
There is something about seeing wildlife at ease in its
surroundings which helps us feel part of the natural
world too. Watch a swan gliding along, unconcerned
by floodwaters and strong currents, and you absorb
a bit of its calmness; listen to a bullfinch calling softly
to its mate along high hedges and you open yourself
to the intimacies of wild nature.
Winter light is wondrous. Even a
glimmer through the clouds brings
gladness, golden light to hoard in
our heads against the coming
darkness. And on clear days it is
ravishing, the low sun drawing
out a deep richness in winter
trees; golden in the afternoon,
fiery red at sunset.
And each day now as the sun
rises a fraction higher in the sky,
there is more light, just a minute
more at the beginning of the month,
the momentum growing daily, with an extra
three minutes from 26th January. Tune into these
subtle changes and you might just find your own
heart growing lighter.
Seeing the unexpected
by Sarah Gibson -
Shropshire
Wildlife Trust
Newport branch of Shropshire Wildlife meet second Tuesday of the month at Church Aston Church Hall, Newport
The golden gleam of a winter sunset at Llanforda (above), a swan unconcerned by floodwaters (inset) courtesy Neil Aldridge.
24 JANUARY 2016