Seasonal nature – Holdfast Beach and Forest School

Six ways to make friends with the Wind

In our house we have a love/hate relationship with the wind – we admire the power of the wind to drive the many turbines out at sea, providing us with green electricity. We’re in awe of the power of wind to pollinate plants and disperse seeds. I am rather fond of the wind’s ability toContinue reading “Six ways to make friends with the Wind”

September at the Beach School

There was only one session of Beach School this September as I headed off to West Wales to have my own personal coastal adventure. However, we fully embraced our time on the beach with rockpooling, printing, kite making, homemade ‘telescopes’ and endless rounds of salt dough pizza. Enjoy the slideshow of our September adventures:

Celebrating October – The Mighty Conker

Goodness me, I love a conker. I love their glowing colour, their shiny skin. I love it when they have half of their casing still attached, wearing it proudly like a spiky helmet. I love to gather them and then, mindfully roll one around my palm, grateful for the beauty of the Autumn. And IContinue reading “Celebrating October – The Mighty Conker”

Celebrating September – Seas and Seeds

I truly love September. Maybe it’s because I am a perpetual academic, but it feels like a real new year – a fresh page and full of promise. It’s also a time of warmth, energy, abundance, growth and fruitfulness. It’s a really wonderful time on our coast. Here’s what we’ll be celebrating this month atContinue reading “Celebrating September – Seas and Seeds”

Creatures of the Deep: Training to be a Marine Mammal Surveyor

The first place I saw a seal was here, off Deal Pier. The Channel’s Grey Seals, with their proud long noses are often mistaken for swimming dogs, just ask my sea-swimming husband, who was once asked why he had left his Labrador in the water. However, this was no land mammal. No dog could swimContinue reading “Creatures of the Deep: Training to be a Marine Mammal Surveyor”

Wonderful things to do in February

February is often thought of as a cold and dark month, but it actually marks the awakening the first signs of Spring – crocuses and snowdrops are sprouting and trees are budding. The daylight is returning too, with mornings and evenings getting gradually lighter, and by the end of the month the day will be twoContinue reading “Wonderful things to do in February”