The Prickly Tunnel leading to Ballynoe Stone Circle....all paths should be Prickly Tunnels 💮✨

Foxglove providing colour and a little delightful magic by a busy main road 🩷 It was once believed in Ireland that the Foxglove would nod or bow out of respect for passing fairies 🌷🧚🏻 And yet despite this association it was also used in various cures for the "fairy stroke" This highly toxic plant has rejuvenating qualities and when a child began to waste away from fairy influence then the juice of the Foxglove was thought to be the key to their revival 🔑 In some places the juice from twelve Foxglove leaves would be administered each day and if the child, or even adult, was a Changeling, then they would refuse the offer of the medicine 🌺

Botanic Meadow in Belfast. It's hard to belief that dark forces want to bulldoze this refuge for wildlife into a sports pitch 🐝🦋

Stop fretting about world events for a moment and just gaze at the amazing beauty of a magpie feather. Ps that's paint on my hand not a weird yellow skin disease 😂

In Irish folklore the Robin was said to have played a sacred role in protecting the infant Jesus as Mary fled with him to Egypt 🪶 When Mary cut her leg on brambles she left a trail of blood allowing Herod's pursuing soldiers to follow bit all was not lost as a Robin was quietly watching. And after seeing the mother and baby in need the devoted Robin covered the blood with leaves and twigs to keep them safe and hidden from danger 🩸🍂 And the little bird appears again at the end of Christ’s life with one tale telling that the Robin gained its fiery red breast while trying to pull the nails from Jesus’ hands and feet....leaving its feathers forever stained by its act of compassion and courage 🧡

A living space becomes a dead space.

In Irish, the Hawthorn is known as Sceach Gheal and the importance of this unassuming tree is etched into the names of Ireland’s villages and towns 🏠🌳 Ballyskeagh, a small townland on the edge of Belfast, quite literally means “the place of the Hawthorn” Sheltered itself by the guardianship of the fairies, the Hawthorn shaped the land in quiet ways over the centuries with its dense thorny growth sheltering wildlife by providing sanctuary and nesting sites, whilst its blossoms sustain insects, birds and small mammals in late Spring 🪺💮 To cut down a solitary Hawthorn is to strip a field of shelter and balance...and many tales tell of the consequences that follow the needless felling of a lone Hawthorn tree 🔥 In one story on which a Hawthorn was felled for firewood cows failed to give milk, chickens refused to lay and even dogs lay down and refused to guard sheep 🐏 When a young Hawthorn was finally planted in its place, life gathered again, and harmony...both natural and magical...was restored 🌱✨

Mugwort is known as "the Mother of Herbs" and it's powerful protective magic, revered across Europe, is believed to be at its peak around Midsummer 🌞 In Bohemia, as the Midsummer fires burned, people wore crowns of Mugwort to keep away the ghosts and spirits who would wander the land at this special time of year 🔥

When this pub in central Belfast was first built, wolves still roamed the hills of Ireland 🐺 They're absence is a sad thing and they are gone long enough to be half-forgotten yet the mere mention of their return terrifies a population numb and ignorant to the loss of Ireland's wildlife....yet in our mythology, wolves were not feared beasts but were guardians and companions. The great hero of the Fianna, Fionn mac Cumhaill was said to lie awake at night simply to hear their song drifting through the forests 🌙 And the shape-shifting Morrígan often took the form of a great wolf in a symbol of power moving between worlds 🐺 🐦‍⬛ In nature, wolves once shaped the Ireland as much as our myth by keeping deer in balance, allowing forests to renew, and creating space for countless other species to thrive. Without the heartbeat of their presence the Irish landscape cannot ever truly recover 💔

In the folklore of Britain and Ireland, Honeysuckle is associated with both love and witchcraft 🧹 In England, it was believed that if Honeysuckle flowers were brought into the home then a marriage would follow and if they were placed in the bedroom of a young woman then she would dream of her future love 💮💤 Yet the beautiful plant has a darker side and in one tale a witch was said to have planted woodbine beside the home of a woman who was due to give birth. The restrictive magic of the plant caused her great pain and it was only when a loyal house goblin intervened and removed the honeysuckle that the baby was born 🧙🏻🧚🏻

A Hawthorn adds a touch of magic and a whole wealth of biodiversity to a city car park 🦋🪄 Ireland's, and indeed Britain's, native trees have magic and character. It is beyond me why authorities insist on planting generic, and often invasive, garbage trees like Sycamore and Himalayan Birch on our streets 🌳✨ This one Hawthorn, in it's ivy coat, supports up to 300 different species including about 150 species of insects 🐝 Just a few weeks ago it was bedecked in white blossoms and now thousands of berries are beginning to develop 🍒 Planting useless ornamentals deprives our cities of character and wildlife of the helping hand that they so desperately need 🪶💚

If you should find this little plant growing in your garden, count yourself very lucky as you have been blessed by the Fairy Folk 🌺 Herb Robert, also known as Stinky Bob, is very special to the magical folk who share our world and is especially loved by an English fairy named Robin Goodfellow 🧚🏻 But a blessing can quickly become a curse. For if the kind gift is spurned and the plant damaged then mischief and disaster await. At best the offending human will suffer the unpleasant aroma that is produced when the plant is damaged....at worst....their home will be struck by lightning and blood rather than milk will run from the udders of their cows ⚡🩸

Appearing in Irish myth as a symbol of beauty the Yellow Iris is the only native species of Iris found in this land and it is both a beautiful and magical plant 💛✨ Étaín, a maiden of ethereal beauty, is described as having hair 'like yellow flags in summer' and it was once believed that humans who had been taken by fairies to The Otherworld would reappear as a glowing patch of Yellow Iris 🌞🪄

Foxgloves, poisonous yet beautiful, observe their surroundings with majestic poise🌿🩷 In Norse mythology these magical flowers were gifted to the fox by the fairy folk🌷 In one version of this tale, the bells of the Foxglove are worn around the neck of the fox so that when it runs the bells jingle and cast a spell over the animal rendering it silent to humans and their dogs 🦊🔔

At first glance an Elder tree's creamy-white blossoms look like a single flower 🌳💮 But each Elderflower head is actually made up of hundreds of tiny individual flowers arranged in broad, flat clusters known as umbels. This wonderful structure creates a landing platform for a wide variety of pollinators, from hoverflies and beetles to bees and butterflies 🐝🦋 For wildlife, Elder provides an abundant source of nectar and pollen in early summer, while later in the year its dark berries become an important food source for birds. We too have long valued Elder the fragrant flowers which are used to make cordials, wines and teas, whilst also being used medicinally to treat colds and fevers 🍷 This wonderful tree nourishes both people and wildlife with every passing season 🌼🍂

Ferns have inhabited this Earth for an unfathomable span of time, unfurling their fronds long before the dinosaurs walked the land and already ancient when the first flowering plants appeared ⌛🌺 For centuries they confounded the keenest minds, bearing no flowers and no visible seeds, and so it was reasoned that their seeds must be hidden from mortal eyes. From this mystery grew darker tales and it was said that on certain enchanted nights, fern seed could be gathered by the bold and the foolish 🌙 Those who possessed it would gain strange powers, slipping unseen through the world and passing invisible among their fellow humans. As William Shakespeare wrote: "We have the receipt of fern seed; we walk invisible." 🍃✨

Hawthorn beneath a canopy of Oak and Ash...just as it was and it should be.l again 🌳 When the Oak, Ash and 'thorn grow together and the light of the full moon shines....take care 🌕 For in these places, at these times, fairies gather and should you hear their music and touch any one of these trees you will awake in the Celtic Otherworld and may never return 🪄

In Wales it was once believed that if you rubbed your hand on the bark of an Oak tree on Midsummer then you would be free from illness for the rest of the year 🌳🌞 And whilst this particular benefit of the Oak may be open to debate there is no doubt that having more of these trees, that can support up to 2,300 different species, is beneficial for our health and that of the creatures that we share our home with 💚🔥

A debt is owed to the dock plant for there was a time when a leaf was carried either in a pocket or in a hat to protect the bearer against enchantments, evil spirits, and fairies 🧚🏻🌿 But now it is time to repay the favour, for this little tenacious plant is vital to the survival of our insects supporting around 80 different species whilst it's seeds are an essential part of the diet of birds as they struggle through the winter months 🪶 ✨ So when you see them on a path they don't need to be pulled or sprayed...just walk on by.

There is no such thing as a dead tree 🪾🪄