Heath basking for mental health in the South Downs
April 4, 2024
Olivia French, Heathlands Engagement Officer, shares her tips for finding your inner zen by connecting with nature at heathland.
Spring is often considered to be a period of new life and fresh starts when things wake up. This makes it a perfect time to tune your senses to connect with nature.
It’s well known that spending time in green spaces can benefit both your mental and physical wellbeing and that nature can make us feel calm, joyful and help with concentration. You may well have heard of forest bathing, an ancient Japanese relaxation method of being calm and quiet in amongst the trees. Since we’re blessed with many heaths in Hampshire and West Sussex, our heathland ranger team are encouraging a slight twist on forest bathing, go heathland basking this month!
Sometimes all it takes is a few minutes to feel the benefits, so we’ve come up with our top tips.
Stop and listen to the bird song. Research by the Natural History Museum has shown that listening to bird sounds can offer relief from mental fatigue and stress. This time of year the birds are at their most vocal. Listen out for the ‘teacher, teacher’ of the great tit, or the unmistakable sound of the Chiff chaff , a sure sign of spring! Out on the heaths, listen out for the musical notes of the woodlark as it sings on the wing, its latin name Lullula Arborea gives you an idea of the ‘lululu’ to listen out for. The woodlark nests on the grounds on our heaths, so make sure to stick to the paths!
Touch can help us feel calm and balanced. Our native UK reptiles are starting to emerge from hibernation, and on a sunny day will begin to bask on bare sandy parts of our heaths. Why don’t you try the same, stop briefly and stand or sit to feel the warmth of the sun on a spring day or feel the rough bark of an old oak or birch tree?
Noticing the small things: our heathland habitat is often One of our favourite insects to look out for is the beautiful Green Tiger Beetle, look out for a flash or iridescent green with yellow spots on their back on sandy tracks.
Enjoy the bright yellow flowers of the gorse which often line paths. Not only does the gorse bring some springtime sunshine to the heaths, but the flowers also smell like coconut making it one for the senses, although we don’t recommend trying to touch it! Happy heathland basking!
Why not join one of our ranger led walks?