Signs of summer
Have you ever noticed how nature changes as it quietly moves into summer?
I live on the west coast of Australia and in my part of the world, we are approaching the summer solstice which happens on 21 December. It’s the shortest day of the year as we move into our hottest months.
Around this time of year, I notice the changing seasons and as someone who gets an itchy and runny nose from things that hover in the air, that means stocking up on tissues!
To me, the heralding of summer has always meant Christmas approaching, time with family, gifts and a Christmas ham, swimming in the ocean, holidays at the beach, sunburnt nose and camping under the stars. Best of all it meant no school for three months — bliss!
Nature has a way of forcing its way into the city and as a city dweller, it takes some effort to get out into the wilderness, or as we call it here, the Bush. I think it deserves a capital letter because, really, there is so much of it — but it’s not so easy to find in this concrete structured city of mine.
Even as a dweller of the suburbs, I still live close to the sea (when the traffic disappears, I can almost hear the waves), near many open spaces and parks full of trees. While nature surrounds me, it’s not what you would call the Outback (this is huge and nowhere near the city).
I’ve recently left full-time work to working just a couple of days a week so have the privilege of staying in bed a bit longer on some mornings. That’s when I listen to the songs of the creatures beyond the driveway.
I usually wake up to the penetrating sound of crows, intense but welcoming, while I try to blot out the morning yap of the neighbours’ dogs. Selective hearing is a must in the ‘burbs.
Sometimes willie wagtails join the morning chorus competing with honeyeaters and wattlebirds. If I’m lucky, there’ll be the cackle of a cranky kookaburra.
The Aboriginal people of the area where I live are called the Whadjuk Noongar people, and they call the Country, Boodjar. They recognise and document the seasons differently from our prescribed four seasons. There are six seasons in the Noongar tradition based on their knowledge of thousands of years of close observation of the land and its creatures.
Rather than measuring the seasons by a uniform date as we do, the seasons are marked by natural changes in the environment such as the flowering of plants, behaviour of animals, changes in the weather, and the movement of insects.
To me, this shows such a sensitivity to the land developed over a very long time, and a much better way of adapting to seasonal changes. It beats expecting it to be warm in October when it’s still raining. I guess that’s why we have a weather channel.
The Whadjuk Noongar seasons are classified according to environmental shifts. These seasons are different for Aboriginal people from different areas. In the west, we are now in Kambarang (October to November) and soon will be entering Birak, the hottest season from December to January.
Kambarang sees the return of warmer weather and is symbolised by the colour yellow. There is an explosion of colours in flowering plants and trees, accentuated by the sunlight streaming through the gum trees. We see oranges, reds and yellows blossoming in acacias and banksias. Kangaroo paw and balgas encapsulate Australia to me and are such astonishing plants (the kangaroo paw is also my state’s floral emblem).
The Australian Christmas tree (Nuytsia floribunda) heralds the start of the warm weather too and wears a dress of glorious orange. Summer’s sometimes scratchy heat mixes with the scents of sweet jasmine, fruity freesias and the delicious frangipani in an eclectic potpourri.
With the warmer weather, the snakes awaken from their winter hibernation and crawl out of their hidden nooks with renewed energy to find warmth and food. It’s the time of year when koolbardies (magpies) rear their young families in the trees around the area. They are wildly territorial during this breeding season and will swoop at anyone or anything they think will be a threat. Outside of breeding season they are not naturally aggressive birds.
I love the approach of summer with its myriad aromas and transformations that happen in my little part of the world.
What small changes signal the change of season where you are?
#nature #summer #summersolstice #southernhemisphere #westernaustralia
