This time your going to hear me waffle about a lovely graveyard near my flat. Mostly because it is scruffy and unkempt which I love.

I have a graveyard near my flat. And during this time of year it is one of the most beautiful places in Edinburgh. The caretakers follow a “less is more” approach, which is basically just rewilding. It gives the place such a natural, vibrant feel. By the time you get round to June you have this explosion of plant life, suddenly all this hidden matter seems to come out of nowhere.

It reminded me of a cracking* book if you want to get into conservation in the UK. Rebirding. The whole book talks about what big events in the UK have gone wrong over the years to bring us to where we are from an ecological standpoint. And in chapter 6 they talk about what the author refers to as ecological tidiness disorder. It refers to an almost pathological need to ‘tidy up‘ our natural surroundings, especially in the UK. Get rid of all that pesky ‘mess’ such as leaves, brambles, ‘weeds’ and deadwood. Neat trimmed lawns and verges all year round, weeds removed with gusto* from as much land as possible, and lovely squared hedges.

What’s wrong with tidying things up a bit? While there is nothing wrong with areas of mowed lawn for sitting and recreation, or sections of cut verges for better visibility. When you expand that to include all green spaces across the UK then we have a problem. If you start to gradually get rid of all food sources and habitat, how is a species going to survive? That is exactly what is happening to our insect population. Getting rid of all the ‘weeds’ and wildflowers for the sake of appearance and/or social standing has a knock-on effect. Which is why the UK has some of the lowest biodiversity on the entire planet and, dare I say, could even be a reason why we are ranked as one of the least happy nations globally. Bit of a stretch I know but I believe strongly that our low levels of biodiversity and disconnection from nature definitely have a knock on effect on our mental health. We came from nature! It is only natural our health is tied to its health.

So what can you do? If you have a section of grass, let it grow! At least take part in No-Mow-May. I’m not saying you have to let the entire area grow wild, just let a patch or some edges grow out and see what happens. I believe we keep everything so neat because it is what everyone else does, and we don’t want to be seen as not ‘taking care’ of our patch of land. I think it is also because we believe these ‘weeds’ don’t serve any purpose. So go out and have a look at the weedy, scruffy patches and see how much more life they have. Take the time to really watch these patches and most importantly see how you feel, start to ask yourself why you react this way, be it positive or negative.

Enjoy!

*Cracking? Jesus… apologies you had to read that. Got tory written all over it.

*Ok, gusto?! This has to stop.