Reflections on Nature Blog - by Fiona Boxall

Welcome to the blog for Reflections on Nature. My name’s Fiona Boxall and I’ll be managing the blog and probably posting on it a bit too. We’ve started up this blog so that those of you who want to tell a bit more of a story about the natural world and your experiences in it will have the space to do so. As you probably know, we started this group because it seemed the right time. After several years of drought and the terrifying slaughter of the bushfires after, most of us were pretty exhausted and horrified by the destruction of the environment and habitat we were witnessing. Then along came the pandemic and social distancing, adding another layer of despair for many of us.

More than ever, now seemed the time to do something positive to celebrate the natural environment we are so lucky to have in Canberra and other places. The time was ripe for us to get out into the open air and explore what has always been there, but which is under ever more pressure. Even more important for us was to start to document our personal responses to habitat, to our redefining our place in this space and the way in which we all belong to the natural world. Reflections on Nature is a welcoming and safe place where we hope you will all feel comfortable to share your musings, reactions and observations of this wonderful natural world with a community of like-minded people.

Whether you write prose, use a pencil and watercolours, wield a camera, compile note books full  of field notes or write poetry, are a professional artist or a complete beginner, your contribution is more than welcome. As a group, we moderators cover the spectrum of experience and focus and are keen to encourage everyone to post and share. We want to hear from as many different voices as possible. It’s that kind of space.

If you would like to post something on the blog, drop me a line on the facebook page and we’ll go from there. Hoping to see and hear from you soon.