By Kate Hodges
07th June 2023
DO AND EVENT TIME FOR ACTION
It’s Great Big Green Week, the UK’s biggest celebration of community action to tackle climate change. You can get involve, either by organising an event such as an allotment tour, a litter pick, or film screening, or by joining in with an event local to you. This year, organisers are asking everyone to write Letters To Tomorrow; missives that explain peoples’ hopes for future generations if our leaders step up to protect the environment. Find out more here. Doing good and finding your community; it’s a win-win!
DO SWOOP SWOOP!
Today (Wednesday) is World Swift Day, a time to think about one of the strangest and loveliest of birds. Swifts are the aerial display team of the bird world, bringing excitement to our skies every summer, in cities and the countryside.
They’re incredible birds. In medieval times people thought swifts were demons, thanks to their habit of flying around churches screaming. It was also believed that they were some kind of bird-fish hybrid breed, and lived through the winter underwater. They can also sleep while flying and there’s a type of south east Asian swift that builds nests using congealed spittle.
Some councils are now making it compulsory to include swift bricks – bird-friendly building blocks – in new houses. You might also like to build your own nest box (find instructions here), or – if you live in certain areas including Leicester – apply for a free one.
Find more about swifts here, and help swifts survive by mapping sightings here.
EVENT WILD WEST
The Natural History Consortium’s Festival of Nature is blowing out twenty candles this year. Join the celebrations in Bristol and Bath. There’s a big party in Bristol’s Millenium Square on Saturday and Sunday with free nature activities, guest talks from guest including TV star Maddie Moate, and a ‘walking forest’ with stories, sensory performances and free trees to plant at home. In Bath a Family Nature Party features arts and crafts, an electro dance disco, music and writing workshops aimed at the under-tens. Activities continue all week.
EVENT ‘POOL PARTY
Liverpool comes alive with art and colour this summer, during the 14-week Biennial. This year’s theme is ‘uMoya; the Sacred Return of of Lost Things’ a call for ancestral and indigenous forms of knowledge, wisdom and healing. uMoya means spirit, breath, air, climate and wind. Many of the artists are exploring the ways in which people and objects have the potential to manifest power as they move around the world, including examining colonialism. The exhibitions and events are, in the main, best suited to teens and older children; Lorin Sookool’s dance in a bombed-out church that unpacks her childhood in South Africa, and the playful projects at Bluecoats. However, there are also artworks that will appeal on a sensory level to younger children; Eleng Luluan’s giant sculpture on Princes Dock and Rudy Loewe’s large-scale, colourful painting of carnival players at Liverpool ONE. Find more here.
DO AND RECIPE LION’S SHARE
It’s dandelion season. Yellow, pom-pom like flowers are carpeting our gardens and parks. Despite their pee-the-bed reputation, they’re good for humans too – find out about their healing uses here. They’re great to forage as they’re so easy to spot, just make sure that you don’t pick them in an area that’s likely to have been sprayed with chemicals. Find out more about picking them here – there’s also a recipe there for dandelion coffee, made from the roots. Alternatively, try them boiled and served with parmesan for a nutrient-rich twist on more traditional greens. Find more ideas here – the Tempura Blooms and Cauliflower and Dandelion soup recipes have us drooling already. Or go really wild and try making dandelion and honey ice-cream. Finally, dandelion wine is a country favourite. Hic.
BONUS EVENT The National Theatre’s River Stage returns to London this month with free themed, outdoor fun every weekend evening. This week, its the turn of Jonny Woo and John Sizzle’s The Glory to bring you glittering drag queens and kings, cabaret artists and DJs to bring chaos and beauty to the South Bank. Forthcoming curators include dance geniuses James Cousins Company, Arab festival Shubbak, and Hackney Empire’s Young Producers.
WHAT WE’RE EATING Chickpea Flatbread This is the result of creating a bread that contains it all: crunch, sweetness and spiciness all married together. It’s a typical over-the-top dish that incorporates everything that I love. Find the recipe here
WHAT WE’RE READING Jim Moir, Nancy Sorrell, Chris Packham and the fine art of birdwatching: “‘Look at the way Jim and Nancy are dressed,’ Packham explains. ‘You wouldn’t think they were birdwatchers. But they’re very passionate about birds. I think it’s actually about diversity. This is an opportunity to see that anyone can be into birds from any direction. Because all too often you’ve got people like me standing with my outdoor wear, with my binoculars, looking really worthy and wokey and serious.’” Read more here
