Page 19 - NT 2022 Almanac

Sometimes it’s very tempting to stay snuggled up at home in January, but it is amazing how much better we feel once we have been outside. One of the best places to go to is a forest or wood where there are evergreen trees. You could try using all five of your senses while you are on your winter walk:
1 Sight Look closely at the trees. Many conifer trees (such as pine, spruce and fir) grow in a spiral pattern. You can guess how old the tree is by counting the spirals, or ‘whorls’ because, after about two years, the tree will grow a new whorl of branches each year.
2 Sound Stop and listen to the wood or forest. If it’s dry, you could even lie down on the ground for a bit. Can you hear the wind through the trees? Or the rustle of animals or birds? How does the ground sound when you walk on it?
3 Touch Have a look around you for pine cones or dried leaves. What do they feel like? Run your fingers over a tree trunk. Do you feel excited? Happy? Calm?
4 Smell Breathe in the smells around you. If you’ve walked here before, does the wood smell different to the last time you were here?
5 Taste We can’t eat the actual trees, of course! But when we smell, we use our sense of taste as well. What can you taste from the air around you?
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