In the recent cold weather our instinct tells us to shelter, hunker down and perhaps retreat into ourselves. Yet winter is an opportunity to reflect on the natural world, embrace the season and its unique character and to think how we might better Help Nature Thrive in 2025.
Moving beyond autumn
It doesn’t seem like 5 minutes since we were out and about exploring the autumn fungi – from Earthstars, to Smokey Bracket to Petticoat Mottlegills we had a bountiful selection to see. Following our Fungi Foray the latest count of Waxcap mushrooms on Haywood Cliffs is now up to 10 separate species, making the site regionally significant.
Taking positive action to Help Nature Thrive has been at the forefront of what SinCH has been up to this year. So many thanks to SinCHers and Bloomers who have been working to improve biodiversity across the Parish and, in recent weeks, been helping Shugborough sow its new wildflower meadow and plant some of their 100,000+ new bulbs.
Local Food is going to be an important theme within SinCH in 2025 so thanks also to the work parties which have cleared and started to develop the SinCH Growing Space. Most recently we have focussed on how to protect and build the soil fertility for next year. In tricky circumstances we managed to raise enough vegetables to serve some very tasty soups at the AGM and we will be making more soup for the December 18th Coffee Morning, so please pop along and enjoy.
There’s still plenty to see and do
The colder, wetter weather brings the temptation to begin to shut down, take shelter and look forward to the spring. After all, much of nature has much the same plan! However, there’s lots of reasons to resist these thoughts and to enjoy the winter season to the full.
It’s a great time to take a fresh look at the natural world – things which are often hidden in other seasons now come to the fore. A hoar frost decks twigs and grasses with a sparkling coat, the patterns in the tree bark are easier to spot and we can explore the multitude of mosses and lichen which the bright sun picks out, often in vivid colours.
Check out our local Help Nature Thrive i-Naturalist project which has over 5,500 observations and 880 species so far.
Let’s embrace the season
When taking time to look carefully we can linger a while and get to know nature more intimately. Being in nature, and feeling part of it, is great for our well-being both mentally and physically. Wrap up warm and stay dry, but watch your step along the way!
Taking time to look carefully we can linger a while and get to know nature more intimately. Being in nature, and feeling part of it, is great for our well-being both mentally and physically. Wrap up warm but watch your step along the way!
In the Winter there are still jobs to do for nature and locally a number of Cannock Chase funded projects will be installing or renovating hedges because deep winter is the time to plant these.
Winter is also the time to prune many (though not all) trees and shrubs. If you need any advice or training in what to do SinCH has a new Tree Champion – Ben – who may be able to help. Ask him a question through info@sinch.earth
Mapping our local trees
Whilst we are talking trees, Ben and Simon recently attended a course run by Cannock Chase about how to identify and record Ancient, Veteran and Notable trees. This was fascinating and great fun so, in addition to helping Cannock Chase record their trees in Brocton Coppice, SinCH is planning to map our local trees so we can look out for them in the future. If you are interested in this new project please let us know, again through info@sinch.earth.
There’s plenty to do in the garden or to prepare for 2025
Finally, Winter doesn’t stop us doing things in the garden for nature and thinking ahead to next year. Now is a good time to take a look around our gardens and make a list of improvements we can make with nature in mind. Maybe you could have more plants with winter seed heads, as well as remembering the value of your existing seedheads.
Check out some other ideas for winter nature gardening here and here.
Want to be in the loop or to get more involved?
For regular updates on what SinCH is up to please sign up using the webform at https://sinch.earth/ or email us at info@sinch.earth.
