Awaken Nature Healing

24/02/2026

Seeing this post today also reminded me how much I love it when we get to spring and all the insects return. All the bees, the butterflies, the snails, the millipedes, the centipedes, ladybirds. All of them. They bring such a sense of life to nature, and are such an essential part of it 

When you see a snail crossing a path and grab its shell to move it out of the way, you might be injuring it while thinking you're helping.

Here's what most people don't realize.

🐌 Why grabbing the shell is a problem

The mantle — the soft tissue that connects a snail's body to its shell — is delicate. The snail's foot creates a powerful adhesive seal against whatever surface it's on. That seal is intentional. It's how the snail stays anchored, stays moist, and stays safe.

When you yank a snail off the ground suddenly, you can tear the mantle or damage the connection between the body and the shell. These are injuries the snail can't recover from. From the outside it looks fine. Inside, the damage is already done.

✅ How to move a snail safely:

- Touch the shell gently first — let the snail know something is happening
- Wait about 30 seconds — it will retract into its shell and release its grip on the surface on its own
- Once it has let go, lift slowly and steadily
- Place it gently in the direction it was already heading — it chose that direction for a reason

It takes less than a minute. That's the difference between a rescue and an injury.

The snail was stuck to that surface on purpose. Work with its biology, not against it. 🌿

23/02/2026

A Springtime favourite - Purple Deadnettle
One of my favourite families in the plant kingdom is the Mint/Deadnettle family. Most people will be familiar with this family because of all the well-known herbs that are used for culinary purposes or in aromatherapy. Rosemary, lavender, basil, sage, oregano, marjoram…I could go on.
But there are so many pants within the mint family that you’ll find growing wild, one of them being this one, Purple Deadnettle, Lamium purpureum, often to be found at the edge of fields or farmland.

Most of them have delicate lobed pink/lilac/white flowers, and are called Deadnettle because often the leaves look like those of the nettle but will have no sting.
White Deadnettle is so like a nettle plant you wonder why the nettle suddenly grew such pretty flowers.
Yellow Archangels flowers are slightly bigger, and those of Hedge Woundworts grow up in a flower spike.
The flowers of Purple Deadnettle are smaller, and sometimes this plant is confused with Henbit, the latter so called because chickens love to forage for it.

Purple Deadnettle is a fragrant plant, and if you rub the leaves, you’ll get a slight bitter aroma.
You might not think of picking it, but if you did, you could eat it, for it is rich in vitamin C, iron and fibre.

If you were to eat the leaves or put them into a tea, you might feel some additional benefits, for being a diuretic and a diaphoretic, it helps to flush toxins out of the body.
Another interesting and helpful quality it has is that it is a styptic. If you were to suffer a minor wound, you could take the leaves, make a poultice, place over the affected area, and this would help to stem the bleeding.

Now is the time to find this plant in flower, one of our earliest colours arriving, and also a source of nectar for the early emerging bees🐝

22/02/2026

Visiting an old friend today, a Wingnut tree, who lives by a river. If you know anything about wingnuts, you’ll know that they grow to be quite large, and have these wide spreading bases with equally wide crowns, with tons of long catkins that hang pendulously from them in spring.
For me, like Cypresses and Redwoods, they symbolise our connection to the Earth, the importance of being rooted, and knowing intrinsically that you are not exclusive, but are part of all the life around you.
There is an air of protection when you stand next to their huge ancient trunks, and it is easy to see why these trees are associated with longevity and endurance. Meeting this one today, I was vividly reminded that a fair few of the connections we make in life may not be based on communication spoken with words, but the stories we are given etch themselves deep within our hearts. 

18/02/2026

I couldn’t count how many times I’ve watched the sun set or rise. I just know that every time I do, I feel peacefully in awe of the magnificence of living on a planet that turns around a big ball of fire. Our star. The colours of the sky in each changing moment, the way the air feels, the world illuminated by the last glowing embers of light, wherever you live, be it city, town, countryside, sea.

It’s beautiful, and it brings you right back into the moment of being alive, for in the moment there can only be that. No imagining a future which may never be, or living in a past which is already gone. Just connection, gratitude and peace.

I couldn’t count how many times I’ve watched the sun set or rise. I just know that every time I do, I feel peacefully in awe of the magnificence of living on...

18/02/2026

A Little Egret flying from the harbour wall. Like Herons, these birds symbolise patience, grace, purity, and transformation.
Seen as spiritual messengers and bringers of good fortune, they are said to be a connection between the sky and the Earth. And it is easy to see why their presence, especially when in flight, has led to them being signs of angelic protection.
Their white feathers were often worn by Native American tribes as symbols of peace, wisdom, and harmony with nature.

However, there was a time when these birds were hunted widely for their white feathers, which were at one point seen to be more valuable than gold. It became popular to wear the feathers on hats and dresses, and as a result, the egrets numbers began to rapidly decline. This interestingly enough was one of the elements that led to the formation of the RSPB in the late 1800/early 1900s. And thankfully now, birds have higher laws of protection.

I often see these birds around harbours, and mud flats, and quite wonderfully, they always seem to keep their white plumage spotlessly clean.

16/02/2026

Have you ever stood and listened to a bird singing and then realised that they are communicating with another bird in the distance. When you listen here, you can pick up the other Robin calling back to this one…

15/02/2026

Beech leaves naturally forming into the shape of a heart where they have fallen into the crook of the trunk of a Mother tree.
Every connection we have with nature takes us back into the realm of the heart, where love is recognised as the most powerful healing force.
To send healing to another, simply breathe into the energy of the heart, and as you breathe out, send the love out down through your arms and out through your hands, feeling the energy stream towards whoever you feel needs it.
As you send out the energy, see the other bathed in a warm pink light, peaceful and happy. Your intention to heal connects you to the Source of all life. Wish blessings for the other and see yourselves both protected, safe, and well.

11/02/2026

Ash and Hawthorn growing next to each other in a little tree grove I like to spend time in. Both are considered to be sacred trees, and for some reason they really seem to like growing next to each other. I’ve often found big Ash trees with Hawthorn growing out of them, or merging together to the point it looks like they are the same tree.

From a distance, you might think the ash is the oak, for they are similar, but the bark is different, and of course you can tell from the leaves in the summertime.

The ash is about balance and oneness, where two opposites make the whole.
It is the ash that we often think of as the tree of life, the axis mundi. Roots in the Earth, branches reaching out towards the cosmos, the central pillar the connector between the two.

Vikings would carry a piece of ash on their long sea journeys, for protection and luck. You can keep an ash staff by the side of your bed for protection.

The Hawthorn is connected to magic and the faerie realms. It is bad luck to cut down any part of this tree, and it is often found growing in sacred places.
The Hawthorn is a heart healer, the physical heart, the blood, the circulation, strengthening you and being a tonic for your whole system. It is also for the emotional heart, to nurture you in times of grief and loss, and to bring you back into your heart centre.
The two trees combined make a powerful energy but something that is also very gentle. Maybe this is why I keep returning. 

11/02/2026

Some really important information about hedgehogs 🦔

HE ISN'T SINGING. HE IS SCREAMING. 🦔🆘

You hear a high-pitched piping noise in the garden. Peep... Peep... Peep. It sounds like a lost chick. You look under the hedge and see a small hedgehog. You think: "He’s chatting to his mum." Stop. Hedgehogs are solitary, silent animals. They do not vocalize for fun. That sound is a Distress Call. It translates biologically to: "I have been abandoned for >24 hours and I am dying."

The Science of "The Squeak": 1. The Acoustic Beacon (Separation Anxiety) 📢 Hoglets (baby hedgehogs) are born with a specific vocal adaptation. While adults grunt or huff in defense, hoglets emit a high-frequency "Pipe" (4-6 kHz). This sound cuts through background wind noise to guide the mother back to the nest. The Rule: A mother hedgehog never leaves her young squeaking. If he is piping and no mother appears within 30 minutes, she is dead or has rejected him. The nest is silent; the squeak is the alarm.

2. The Winter Weight Trap (Brown Adipose Tissue) ⚖️ In February/March, this is even more critical. To survive UK hibernation, a hedgehog needs a reserve of Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) to generate heat during arousal (waking up). If he weighs less than 600g now, he has burned through his BAT. He has woken up early because his body is eating its own muscle. He is Hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) and wandering in a "waking coma" looking for insects that don't exist yet.

3. The Parasitic Burden (Lungworm) 🪱 Why is he squeaking in daylight? Daylight behaviour in a nocturnal animal is a symptom of Systemic Failure. Weak hedgehogs are overwhelmed by internal parasites, specifically Lungworm (Crenosoma striatum). The parasites fill the lungs, causing pneumonia. The hedgehog struggles to breathe, forcing him out into the open air (air hunger) where he squeaks in panic and pain.

The Protocol: HEAT AND BOX. Do not just put down food and walk away. He is too cold to digest it.

Pick him up: Wear gardening gloves (ringworm risk).

The Box: High-sided box (they can climb).

The Heat Source: CRITICAL. A hot water bottle wrapped in a towel. He cannot generate his own heat. If you feed him while he is cold, the food will rot in his stomach (Ileus).

The Silence: Keep him quiet. The squeaking will stop once he feels the heat.

Call the Rescue: British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) or local vet.

The Verdict: If it peeps, it's an orphan. If it's out in the sun in Feb, it's dying. Grab the gloves.



📌 Quick FAQ
Q: Can I give him milk? A: LETHAL. 🥛☠️ Hedgehogs are Lactose Intolerant. Cow's milk causes severe diarrhea. In a dehydrated, starving hoglet, diarrhea kills in hours. Only offer water.

Q: What if he curls up into a ball? A: Don't be fooled. 🧶 Curling up is a reflex (panniculus carnosus muscle). A dying hedgehog can still curl up. The true test is: Does he uncurl quickly? Does he wobble? Is he cold to the touch? A tight ball does not mean he is "fine."

Q: I saw a big one, is he okay? A: The "Drunken" Walk. 🥴 If an adult hedgehog is wobbling or dragging his back legs in March, it isn't "groggy from sleep." This is often a sign of Dehydration or Metabolic Bone Disease. He needs fluids immediately.

10/02/2026

Symbolism of the Rabbit
While it’s not uncommon to see rabbits in the countryside, every time I do see one, it feels special. There’s something about these creatures that seems extremely magical.
They are synonymous with Spring, representing new beginnings, renewal, and fertility, and the other day when I was walking, in a break between the raindrops, seeing the rabbit, I was reminded of the lighter, dryer days to come.

Like the hare, rabbits are linked to the moon, and to our more intuitive, sensitive side. They call us into our connection to nature, and to the need for softness as well as strength. They are peaceful creatures, and are hugely sensitive, with highly attuned hearing, vision, and sense of smell.

Rabbit can go from grazing quietly in the grass to, when sensing danger, running at great speeds, their powerful hind legs helping them to dash away to safety, their highly flexible skeletons allowing them to bend and twist and dive into their burrows.

We are also just as adaptable, and more aware and capable than we would give ourselves credit for.

One of the most amazing things about being human is that we too can face whatever comes our way with strength, but also softness. To be powerful yet graceful.

There is so much information coming our way right now in the world, it can be easy to go into sensory overload. If you’re finding yourself feeling this way, maybe take the time to be like the rabbit. Quietly connecting with nature, and with your inner self. To be in the moment, and know that you have the resources within to not only survive but thrive.