Nature

Inspired by Nature: Dyke’s Side

May 10, 2016 by editor

^{Inspired by Nature is a themed Croak to entertain you with art and creative writing based on nature and the outdoors. We hope it will stimulate you to get creative and produce something yourself. If you do and would like to share them with us, please post them on our Facebook page, Twitter account, or email us at info@froglife.org}

^{This months feature has been written by Rebecca Neal our Conservation Youth Worker on the Peterborough Green Pathways project, funded by BBC Children in Need.}

I love the poet John Clare. Not only does he make my region famous (his home was only a few miles from the Froglife office), but he also wrote a lot about the outdoors. He was inspired by a landscape that still looks similar to what I see on my weekend strolls in the fens.

I came across this fantastic poem by Clare when searching for inspiration for this column. It’s a sonnet, which mean it is written in iambic pentameter (ten syllables with a stress on alternate words: de dum, de dum, de dum, de dum, de dum) and has fourteen lines. It has a non-traditional rhyming scheme for a sonnet whereby pairs of lines rhyme at the end, called “rhyming couplets”. Shakespeare and other famous sonnet writers used a more complex rhyming pattern.

Dyke’s Side

The frog croaks loud and maidens dare not pass

But fear the noisome toad and shun the grass:

And on the sunny banks they dare not go

Where hissing snakes run to the floods below.

The nuthatch noises loud in wood and wild,

Like women turning skreeking to a child.

The schoolboy hears and brushes through the trees

And runs about till drabbled to the knees.

The old hawk winnows round the old crow’s nest:

The schoolboy hears and wonder fills his breast.

He throws his basket down to climb the tree

And wonders what the red blotched eggs can be:

The green woodpecker bounces from the view

And hollos as he buzzes by “kew kew”

John Clare 1793-1864 © Eric Robinson (2016)

I love the fact that this poem has frogs, toads and snakes in it (perhaps I am biased!), and talks about the interaction between nature and people. This loss of this interaction is what Froglife’s education work is trying to address. Even when the interaction is one of fear, at least there is a connection. I also love the language; noisome is a great word, I am now going to try to use more often in everyday conversations! Here is the definitions of some of the more archaic words:

Drabbled: become wet and dirty by movement through muddy water

Skreeking: a high-pitched screeching noise

Winnow: to fan or beat the air with wings

I was inspired by these words to write a short story for my creative writing evening class with as many strange sounding old words as I could fit in. If you are also inspired by John Clare and want to share what you write, please get in touch.

Green Pathways comes to Glasgow!

September 15, 2014 by admin

We are excited to announce the launch of our Green Pathways project in Glasgow. Thanks to successful funding from Young Start and The Robertson’s Trust, this fantastic new project will offer exciting opportunities for vulnerable young people to enjoy wildlife and be involved in outdoor activities.

Outdoor education is proven to positively influence the behaviour and self-discipline of young people and also enhances emotional development. Contact with nature has also been linked to reduced crime and aggression, and improved community integration and mental health. Green Pathways will use both of these tools to help young people with difficult lives work together to improve their communities and their own futures.

Jenny Leon, our Learning Coordinator at Froglife says:

“I am so pleased we are able to offer this opportunity to Glasgow’s young people. It’s really important that they get the opportunity to have positive experiences in the great outdoors. The benefits are huge to the young people themselves and it also helps us protect local wildlife and habitats- everyone wins!”

Green Pathways will reach out to disadvantaged or vulnerable 10-15 year olds in the Glasgow area – with scope to work to a lesser degree with other ages – who may be exhibiting challenging behaviour, lacking in confidence or could simply benefit from extra help to achieve their full potential. The target audience is wide ranging and could cover, for example, teenagers living in deprived areas, those not in mainstream education or with a difficult home life, young carers or refugees. We will be working with these young people as part of our integrated approach to youth work in the city; we already run a successful Green Pathways project in Peterborough, working with young offenders and people not in employment, education or training.

130205 Chase from Ken Stimpson in a puddle on Hampton NR

Each young person will work with Froglife for 2 hours a week for 6 to 12 weeks on a project that could involve anything from surveying for amphibians to clearing scrub or making a wildlife garden. The scheme will increase the confidence of participants by involving them in the planning and design of their project and encouraging them to work as a team. In conjunction with these longer term projects, Green Pathways will also be offering drop in sessions after school and during the holidays as well as outreach sessions where we will go out to local green spaces and parks, into schools and youth centres to deliver practical or classroom based sessions.

Our new team member and Conservation Youth Worker, Lauren Lochrie says:

“What a fantastic project to be involved in! I have been busy developing local partnerships and educational activities, now I’m keen to start delivering these fun and interactive sessions in order to benefit and enhance the lives of Glasgow’s disadvantaged youths”

The project will be working to improve green spaces for wildlife and people across the city for the next 2 years. If you are interested in getting involved or just want to find out more, please visit www.froglife.org/greenpathways or contact Lauren Lochrie on 0141 339 0737 or lauren.lochrie@froglife.org

Bullet points on Young Start

Young Start is a grants programme that distributes money from dormant bank accounts. It aims to create opportunities for children and young people aged between 8 and 24 to help them realise their potential.

The programme is delivered by the Big Lottery Fund on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Vote Froglife!

August 22, 2014 by admin

130205

We are delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted in the Octavia Hill Awards 2014 ‘Wild Organisation’ category. It is now down to a public vote to decide the winner. Please show your support for our work with young people by voting here.

The Octavia Hill Awards are organised by the National Trust, the Wild Network and BBC Countryfile Magazine and celebrate people who work to protect and enhance green spaces for wildlife and local communities.

“This year, the Octavia Hill Awards are looking for heroes who have helped children and young adults connect with the outdoors and wildlife – passing on their own experience, enthusiasm and love of nature. We want to celebrate the people who have made a real difference to the youngsters around them – helping to inspire a life-long love of the outdoors and wildlife.

The Wild Organisation award is for a group or organisation, large or small, that have championed the importance of reconnecting children with nature. Voting closes midday Sunday 31st August.” (taken from the Countryfile website)

Why should you vote for us?
Froglife is a conservation organisation whose work is instrumental to the conservation and protection of native amphibians and reptiles. Over its time, the organisation has initiated a whole host of regional and national projects and has been highly successful in its attempts to reconnect children with nature. Most notably, through its Green Pathway project, funded by the BBC Children in Need, Froglife provides young disadvantaged people with opportunities that inspire and empower them to partake in positive wildlife orientated activities. Their work “clearly demonstrates that it is championing the importance of reconnecting children with nature, and moreover they are focusing on those children and young people that wouldn’t normally access these opportunities because of social, cultural or financial barriers”, says a nominator.

For more information about our Learning Projects please click here

We need your vote so please show your support by voting here

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Inspired by Nature: Nonsense Poems

June 30, 2014 by admin

Inspired by Nature is a themed Croak to entertain you with some of my own and my favourite famous poems written about nature and the outdoors. I hope it will stimulate you to get creative with words and write something yourself. If you do and would like to share them with us, please post them on our facebook page.

Becca, Conservation Youth Worker: Green Pathways Project

Nonsense Poems

You’d think these would be easy, but it is more difficult than you might imagine to write utter nonsense.
You all know a nonsense poem; Edward Lear’s The Owl and the Pussy Cat or even the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle. These are rhyming verse written for children which often use made-up words or are utterly meaningless. It’s a good way to have fun with language that even young children can take part in.
If you have never read Dr Seuss, then please do, no matter how old you are. He is the master of nonsense. It’s not technically nonsense, but his book The Lorax is a brilliant fable on the impact of greed and overexploitation on the environment. I love it.

Write a piece of nonsense and post it on our facebook page!

My Desk: Nonsense but to me
“Lets twist!” said the cheese with a sparkly sneeze,
To the naked clay froad in the road.
“Stop” stared the hawk whilst the starling went “squawk”
And the card underneath was bowed
By a box of hoppers on top of the loppers,
Near to the soft roll of bed,
The abandoned chair and the children of Claire
And the handsome lieutenant I’d wed.

Nonsense poems

Inspired by Nature: Sonnets

February 24, 2014 by admin

Inspired by Nature is a new themed Croak to entertain you with some of my own and my favourite famous poems written about nature and the outdoors. I hope it will stimulate you to get creative with words and write something yourself. If you do and would like to share them with us, please post them on our facebook page.

Becca (Conservation Youth Worker: Green Pathways Project).

I recently went on a date. I don’t really want to talk about it, but the lucky man did give me a book of poetry, and read some out-loud to me in the pub. Whilst still in recovery, I read through the book and found this beautiful sonnet which really struck a cord with me. I read it over and over again and entertained myself (and others!) on trains and in queues with my enthusiastic renditions. In fact, this poem was the inspiration for this series of Croaks.

The form for a sonnet is difficult to describe, but it has 14 lines, and a tick-tock-like rhythm: da Dum da Dum da DUM da DUM da DUM (technically this is called iambic pentameter). How the lines rhyme depends upon which type of sonnet but it’s the last word that rhymes and the lines are written in pairs and often arranged in fours. This is an example of an Italian sonnet, the other common form is Shakespearean.

O Soliture! If I must with thee dwell John Keats

O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell,
Let it not be among the jumbled heap
Of murky buildings: climb with me the steep, –
Nature’s observatory -whence the dell,
In flowery slopes, its river’s crystal swell,
May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep
‘Mongst boughs pavilioned, where the deer’s swift leap
Startles the wild bee from the foxglove bell.
But though I’ll gladly trace these scenes with thee,
Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind,
Whose words are images of thoughts refined,
Is my soul’s pleasure; and it sure must be
Almost the highest bliss of human-kind,
When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee.

What you can do:

What are your favourite poems about nature? We’d love to hear from you. Share them with us on facebook.

croak all about it

Inspired by Nature: Limericks

January 27, 2014 by admin

Everyone loves a limerick, but have you ever tried to write one yourself?

I attend a weekly creative writing class. One week, I had not done any homework and knocked these out after work to ensure I had something to hand in! I love being outdoors, so everything I wrote is true (except now I have my own handsome man and so obviously, only love that one!).

A limerick is a short funny poem with 5 lines where the first, second and fifth lines rhyme and the third and forth rhyme (in literary terms, this is described as the rhyme scheme AABBA). They are often rude and nonsense. The first line usually introduces a character and a place. There are complicated ways to talk about the rhythm which uses words like feet, syllables and meter but basically it goes like this:

da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM

Here are mine:
There once was a girl in the fens
Who took teenagers out to build dens
She wrote poetry for fun
Read short stories she’s done
As they always contain handsome men
There once was a wildlife nerd
Whose specialist subject was birds
She also liked badgers
And searching for adders
And loved handsome men, so I’ve heard

What you can do:

Why not have a go yourself, perhaps inspired by a walk on your local nature reserve or watching the birds with your kids ? Please don’t share the really rude ones, but any that you would read to your mother we would love to see on our facebook page.

croak all about it

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Nonsense Poems

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