Author: Paul Barclay

So long and thanks for all the pine martens

, by Paul Barclay
After six years working in Cumbernauld developing the Wild Ways Well green mental health project, it’s time to say goodbye. Over those years Wild Ways Well has run hundreds of mental wellbeing sessions and engaged with thousands of people, we have been nationally, and internationally, recognised for the work we have done – and I have never stopped being amazed…

A vital lesson

, by Paul Barclay
  By Paul Barclay, Cumbernauld Living Landscape Health and Wellbeing Project Officer This week is Green Health Week and people all over the UK are taking the opportunity to highlight just how vital spending time in nature is to everyone’s health and wellbeing. The last few years have really emphasised this. For many of us, stuck at home, that daily…

Wassailing apples

, by Paul Barclay
Recently Cumbernauld Living Landscape’s Saturday nature group headed out into the woods on a special mission. “Wassail the trees, that they may bear, many an apple and many a pear…” While the domestic apple is not native to the UK we do have our own version – the crab apple. A member of the rose family, its small fruits taste…

Healthy body, healthy mind – healthy planet

, by Paul Barclay
Healthy body, healthy mind is a phrase most of us recognise, but perhaps it is time to add a new clause to that old mantra. It’s now recognised that for a healthy life one of the most important factors is a healthy planet. Research shows that being amongst vibrant, biodiverse, natural spaces is vital for healthy people and communities. At…

Could pine martens help paint the town red?

, by Paul Barclay
These days most of us are probably aware of the plight of the red squirrel. Reds are our only native squirrel but numbers have been in steady decline for years, due to the spread of their invasive grey cousins. Red squirrels find it difficult to compete with greys for food and habitat, but it is the squirrelpox virus which the…

Natural healing

, by Paul Barclay
    This week is Mental Health Awareness Week. Unfortunately there is still real stigma, fear, and even shame surrounding mental health issues. There shouldn’t be. The past year has shown us that illness can strike anyone, anywhere – but it also showed the strength that lies within us to endure even in the darkest of times. One of the…

Magic in the air

, by Paul Barclay
20 March was the date of the Spring Equinox, when night and day are perfectly balanced with 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. For many of our ancestors this was a special time. The cycle of the sun was vital to them and they watched the skies closely, monitoring for signs of change. In many Celtic cultures…

Learn a Magical Spell

, by Paul Barclay
  A few years ago, after a fruitless tramp through a woodland looking for wildlife I sat down on a tree stump in disgust and discovered something unexpected. I can do magic. As I sat quietly a flicker of movement from the corner of my eye revealed a bumblebee emerging from a hole in the ground. Soon I could see…

Autumn Wellbeing

, by Paul Barclay
  An autumn walk can be a fantastic way to shake off the worries and pressures of daily life. The vibrant colours of the leaves are nature’s gift to us all as they turn and fall in drifts. The trails of reds, browns and yellows marking autumn’s progress always brings out my inner child, I can never resist that secret…

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Engaging comunities, Public opinion, Wildlife Watch Group, Weekend Volunteering, Yew, Chirstmas, Comments, Disqus, Make it count, Plastics, Frost, Beautiful, Green Routes, SUSTRANS, CSGNt, Memories, Play, National Toast Day, Tracks, International Year of the Forest, Wildlife gardening, Forestwood, Flowers, Cowslips, Black birds, Swift, Witch, Wizard, Magic, Inspiring