I walked along the same lane and gathered examples of nine different grasses which I have identified below (from left to right) – approximately.
1. Great brome
2. Soft brome
3. Rye grass
4. Timothy
5. Wall barley
6. Cocks foot
7. Yorkshire fog
8. Purple drop seed
9. False oat grass
29th May 2025
Community transport can be another plus for community resilience where it enables people to access local transport when public transport of not available or is unsuitable. It may operate via a dedicated minibus which can be expensive to run or via volunteer drivers using their own car or a shared car.
Boosting aces to active travel could be equally useful – with use of cargo bikes to move goods and people and the use of adapted cycles that can enable use by people with disabilities and people with young children, to get around without reliance on cars.
Walking along a narrow and little used lane, I looked at the plants growing along the verge – a variety of grasses, buttercups and the occasional late dandelion, convululus (hedge and field varieties), dock plants, cow-parsley and hogweed – all of which I’m sure are beneficial for wildlife. But what I can’t judge is whether this diversity of wild plants is good or not so good – it’s hard to judge what’s not there!
However I am encouraged by the following observation made by the Natural History Museum: “Road verges cover an enormous area in the UK – they span about 500,000 kilometres, equivalent to driving more than 12 times around the Earth! Their total area is thought to be slightly larger than the Lake District National Park. Museum botanist Fred Rumsey says, ‘The sheer scale of the road verge habitat in the UK is pretty mind-boggling. In terms of providing habitat for our threatened wildlife, this huge network of linear strips is increasingly important.’” (1)
Warwickshire Council has a scheme for improving biodiversity by focusing on encouraging wildlife friendly verges – https://www.warwickdc.gov.uk/info/20855/biodiversity/2016/wildflower_verge_trial
(1) https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/why-road-verges-are-important-wildlife-habitats.html
28th May 2025
Warm Spaces offer people somewhere warm to go in the colder months of the year – but they offer more than just warmth and have the potential to be key community hubs in the event so crisis, climatic or otherwise.
“Welcome Spaces are:
I am again up in Warwickshire (wet and windy). Today two things caught my attention – one was fields that are yellow with buttercups. The other was field of grass that instead of buttercups was full of black rocks feeding. I wondered if maybe the rain had brought a lot of worms and beetles etc close to the surface of the grass and whether that was attracting such a number of birds.
“Worms, beetles and other invertebrates are the rook’s main food, which it catches by probing the ground with its large beak. It will also feed on grain, fruit, acorns and occasionally carrion and birds’ eggs.” https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/animals/birds/rook/
27th May 2025
Local churches – particularly those where the congregation is predominantly local too – can be a force for good because it builds the strength of the local community and has a building that is available as a community centre. Tearfund identifies local churches as having ten key strengths that can enable them to tackle the risk of disaster.
However Tearfund also point out that some churches “may not see strengthening the resilience of communities as part of the church’s role.”
Churches need to consciously and proactively engage with the challenge of being a key part of community resilience.
I have a no more approach to both front and back lawns.
The front lawn favours longer grasses and other plants because it gets little human footfall – but does get cat worn paths or this year, flatten areas where foxes have played. I picked one of each sort of grass that I could find and these are what I think they are.
26th May 2025
Another aid to community resilience is having people locally who have undertaken various forms of training such as first aid.
The British Red Cross have produced a detailed report on the benefits first aiders can bring to community resilience – “Being socially connected is related to an individual’s willingness to act, with those stating a willingness to act also reporting they feel part of a community, the community watch out for each other, and that people in the community are willing to,help each other.” (1)
And St John’s Ambulance highlights the benefits of mental health first aid – “Through active listening and creating a safe space for open conversations, Mental Health First Aiders contribute to a healthier and more resilient community.” (2)
There are equally benefits for communities that have the services of search and rescue volunteers. Volunteer teams cover both remote mountain terrains and flatter rural and urban areas too.
“Often when people hear the words “search and rescue “they have an image of an off-shore rescue, snow covered mountains or fast flowing waters. The Lowland Rescue teams including CRS can also be involved in fast water or weather-related incidents, but we often find ourselves having to search villages, towns and cities for missing persons.
These urban areas have many challenges including, buildings, both occupied and derelict, park land, waterways, gardens, roads and people to name but a few. The specialised Lowland Rescue training that our volunteers receive, which is always delivered to a national standard, prepares them for all eventualities.” (3)
Equally communities could benefit from having people who have fire fighting skills. (4)
(2) https://www.sja.org.uk/courses/workplace-mental-health-first-aid/mental-health-first-aid/book/
(3) https://www.communityrescue.org/service/land-search-and-rescue/
Just passing through Grantham on the train and I am thrilled to see a mass of white ox eye daisies fluttering in the the wind. They together with red valerian flowers are populating the space between the railway tracks. A beautiful wild surprise!
The land alongside railway tracks is also often a haven for wildlife and equally serves as corridor along which flora and fauna can travel.
25th May 2025
Reflection with readings below
We live in a world that seems increasingly distant from the peace and harmony we associate with the idea of God’s kingdom. The world we live in is dominated by economic pressures, the pursuit of profit, aggressive demands for national security, the overriding influence of wealth and big business, the cult of the individual and the adoration of the dictator. The world we live in places limited value on nature – indeed nature is often pitched as the opposite of progress and wealth creation – and has little concern for the poor other than to tax them all the more because of their failure to boost the economy.
It is a world in which we are reluctant to invest in the future unless we can do so on the cheap – or unless we’re building yet another flagship office complex. It is a world in which we are reluctant to challenge greed, injustice, poverty and prejudice. It is a world in which we refuse to listen to the cry of the Earth, to recognise the damage we are wilfully inflicting on the environment in which we live and on which we rely for our survival.
Yet here we are in the season of Easter – the season of new beginnings, the inauguration of a new relationship between God and creation that is shaped by the power of the resurrection.
Our first reading tells us Paul’s response to a vision where in response he takes the gospel to the people of Macedonia. This is a message that brings new life to those who are ready to receive it. This is a new way of life that is lived according to the values of the kingdom of God that Jesus has taught. Let’s imagine for a moment how different the world would be if everyone lived in that way, or (and this may be harder) if all of us in our church lived in that way. What if we, in the words of Lydia, might be ‘judged to be faithful to the Lord’?
Both today’s Psalm and the reading from the Book of Revelation, tells us that God’s ways give rise to health and harmony: ‘Let your ways be known upon earth, your saving health among all nations’ and ‘the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit [whose] leaves … are for the healing of the nations.’ The implication is that if we live as physical beings in harmony with the physicality of creation, then we will experience this wellbeing. Such a lifestyles relies on us paying attention to the Earth – and when we do this will enable all the people to praise God. No more war and suffering, no more oppression nor prejudice – justice and love and mercy will overcome greed and selfishness and aggression.
And finally in our gospel reading, Jesus tells us to hear – to listen to – and keep his word, knowing that that word comes from God, and that it is the Holy Spirit that will teach us to understand that word. It is a word that will enable us to understand and address all the ways in which the way we live on Earth falls short of the ways of the Kingdom of God – the Easter Kingdom. We need, as Pope Francis wrote in Laudate Si, to listen to ‘the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor’.
It is with some relief that this week it seems as if our Government is finally responding to the cry of poor in Gaza. And that can be a further prompt to us to continue to pray for the people of Gaza,
to contribute financially to their need, and to write to our MPs to both thank them and press them for further action.
May we all know Christ’s peace in our hearts and in the world around us.
Acts 16:9-15
During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.
We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptised, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.
Psalm 67
1 May God be merciful to us and bless us, *
show us the light of his countenance and come to us.
2 Let your ways be known upon earth, *
your saving health among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, *
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide all the nations upon earth.
5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.
6 The earth has brought forth her increase; *
may God, our own God, give us his blessing.
7 May God give us his blessing, *
and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
In the spirit the angel carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.
I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day– and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
John 14:23-29
Jesus said to Judas (not Iscariot), “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.
“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, `I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.”
The Green Tau 