Entries tagged "lichen"
2013-02-27
My thanks to Leon Winnert – a double Natural Navigator course alumnus no less! – for taking the time to research church alignment in his area.
His findings are interesting and urge caution on placing too many eggs in the W-E church and graveyard alignment basket.
This is true of all natural navigation observations taken in isolation and there are anomalies in all methods, including the sun and stars.
However, I was particularly interested to note that there was a pattern to the anomalies he found – patterns to the break in patterns – wheels within…
2012-12-03
It is that time of year when nature likes to get out her frost compasses for us to admire.
I took this photo last Friday in the middle of the day.
We are looking due west.
The southern sun has thawed the areas it can get to, but unlike other suns, it cannot refresh the parts it cannot reach. (My apologies, I think a retro marketing slogan tried to creep in there.)
The frost shadow on the sand itself is quite straightforward, but the shadows and frost on the logs are more interesting, particularly when…
2012-05-11
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In these four pictures we are looking at the same beech tree. See if you can work out which way you are looking in each picture. If you hover your mouse over each picture it should give you the answer.
If it has been a bit quiet on the blog recently, it's because it has been a very busy time for the last…
2011-01-02
Happy New Year!At times like this, I sometimes wonder what the Earth and Sun would say to each other if they could talk. They would watch us celebrating this annual moment at such an arbitrary time...Sun: I could understand a party at either solstice...Earth: Yes, or one at either equinox. Would make good sense...Sun. Quite. But to pick a day about a week after one solstice...Earth: Very strange.Sun. Yes. They are a very strange lot.In this picture of a beech tree in Wiltshire, we can see both moss and lichens thriving in the moist air close to the ground. Water…
2010-03-11
After selling out in under 48 hours on Amazon and elsewhere, the book has been reprinted and is now available again at most shops - online or off. Thank you to all who have bought the book so far; after the thousands of hours that have gone into the research, writing, editing, illustrations, production and launch, it is wonderful to know that it is being read. Thanks for the nice feedback too, a recent favourite:"I recently bought a copy of your book and loved it – quite remarkable! My brother has stolen it from me yesterday – he’s a…
2009-07-10
I took this picture looking south over Halnaker Hill, the windmill can just be seen poking out at the top. On my outdoor courses I sometimes stop early on and ask people to give me as many clues to direction as possible. Quite often this leads to much frenzied studying of lichens and branches and lots of good ideas. More often than not I find myself having to point out a big one. 'What's the biggest clue you can see?' Some might say the shape of the land, but very few spot the coast itself. If visibility is poor I…
2009-06-06
The two pictures above show two sides of the same bridleway signpost on the South Downs Way. The arrows both point east and there is a clue to this in the photos. It is not in the lichen growth, which unusually is quite similar on both sides, but in the colour of the arrows themselves. The blue of the south-facing (but east-pointing!) arrow has been bleached more by the sun. The three main weathering clues are sun, wind and rain. The first will usually be greatest on the southern side, but…
2009-05-13
Two nights ago the strong winds brought an ivy-ravaged sycamore down into our garden, destroying two fences and killing an apple sapling in the process. I spent a few minutes looking over it this morning and found it to be a haven for lichens, there were at least five different types thriving and probably dozens making less of a splash. It was a rare opportunity to see the tops of the trees as they are, without having to scale them. Lichens are very sensitive to air quality so perhaps being thirty feet up was enough to keep them above the…
2009-05-07
This just in...TristanMany thanks for a fantastic day yesterday. I learnt so much and was stimulated also by the opportunity to apply what I did know to a new "problem solving" challenge! I checked out the moon last night and located Polaris and was quite comfortable that it was NOT directly above my head as I always imagined it might be! (I do need to re-set the weathervane and I think I'll…
2009-05-03
This morning was filled with a breezy walk up to Halnaker Windmill. The sun was out for most of the way up the hill, but the sky also had a generous share of cumulus clouds.Natural navigation is a mixture of art and science and this can be felt very strongly when the sun disappears behind the clouds. Science allows us to understand the direction that the sun will be and there is an art to reading the cloud edges to reveal the direction of the sun, even when we cannot see it.The low trees on the exposed hilltop had been…
2009-04-21
This isn't about the Force, although I did read recently that a lot of Scottish policemen have put 'Jedi' down as their religion on their work forms.More days than not I spot an example of the sun influencing nature in a way that is new to me in some way. In general terms it is fairly old news that a place that receives no direct sunlight will appear different in some way. It is in the detail that the novelty is to be found. The more obvious signs might be that it has different plants growing and an abundance of…
2008-11-13
Chichester Cross is a slightly mysterious stone construction…
2008-11-01
There are three words that you are unlikely to see together in the same sentence ever again. What is my excuse here? There is a well-known relationship between sunshine and moss or lichen growth, but there are subtler, more interesting ones as well. I have lost count of the number of people who have confidently told me that moss only grows on the north side of trees and buildings. I have dealt with that partial myth elsewhere, but here I want to explore a rarely-noted trend.
In…
