Down the Combe and into the Meadow: Reflections on Nature and Learning

David Selby (2024) Down the Combe and Into the Meadow: Reflections on Nature and Learning, Devon: Blue Poppy Publishing.

As a young teacher my development education bible was Global Teacher, Global Learner.  Written by David Selby (together with Graham Pike) in 1988, this classic handbook for teachers explores and develops the theory and practice of global education, as well as offering an extensive range of practical activities for primary and post primary teachers. Throughout my career, I have been guided by the stellar work of David Selby.  Two of his recent publications, written with longstanding collaborator Fumiyo Kagawa, critically examine the educational response to a world facing unprecedented challenges: Education and Climate Change (Kagawa and Selby, 2010) and the groundbreaking collection, Sustainability Frontiers: Critical and Transformative Voices from the Borderlands of Sustainability Education (Selby and Kagawa, 2015).

David’s current focus is on aspects of transformative environmental education, notably nature-embedded learning, place-based learning, rewilding learning and biodiversity learning.  His most recent publication Down the Combe and Into the Meadow: Reflections on Nature and Learning (Selby, 2024) does not disappoint.  It provides the reader with a stunning, virtual field trip to a secluded coastal valley, Western Combe, situated on the Jurassic Coast of East Devon, England.  Written in an engaging diary style, the author explores aspects of East Devon’s natural history over twelve chapters, one for every month of the year.  A wide range of current nature-related themes and issues are covered across the twelve chapters.  Each chapter expands a focus on the local place to an in-depth analysis of a nature related issue of global significance allied with reflections on implications for our living and learning.  Issues addressed include human disconnect from the natural world, climate breakdown, rewilding, biodiversity loss and confronting environmental despair. The writing is richly descriptive of the natural world and further enhanced by some 138 stunningly beautiful photographs of landscape, flora and fauna including 51 images by award winning nature photographer David White.

The book begins with reflections on place-based connectivity to the natural world and how this shapes our identity and world view.  Chapter two explores day to day disconnections from the natural world and how this disconnect reduces our drive to cherish and protect nature.  In chapter three, Selby takes a critical look at the efforts to address environmental issues through the prism of ‘education for sustainability’.  He argues that the dry language of ‘sustainable development’ and ‘sustainability’ devoid of wondrous images and miracles of the natural world are ultimately failing to foster an appreciation for our local place. Chapter four explores locally based nature-based learning responses to climate breakdown.  Chapters five and six contemplate respectively, rewilding and biodiversity loss and their place within nature learning.  Selby explores the idea of ‘transformative learning’ in chapter seven introducing the more radically holistic concept of ‘metamorphic learning’ in chapter eight which looks at coastal places as venues for nature learning.  Chapter nine focuses on nature friendly farming and chapter ten looks at the migration of the species and the impact of climate breakdown.  Chapter eleven explores themes of loss and hope where the concept of ‘authentic hope’ is elaborated.  The final chapter examines how rituals, rites and celebrations can foster a new and deeper relationship with nature.

This beautifully written book provides the reader with an exquisite sensory experience of biodiversity, nature and place.  Short extracts from nature poetry and sonnets frame each chapter reminding the reader of the threats facing our natural environment.  For instance, in chapter ten, Selby quotes a verse from Jenny Justice’s ‘Field Guide to Birds’ (2019):

“It should not read like

A diary of loss

A mystery of disappearance

A Where’s Waldo of what’s left

And yet flipping through this field guide to birds

With its beauty, simplicity, organisation, optimism

I can’t help but feel the grief and ask the question

What can we so when this who’s who of birds is

A slimmer and slimmer volume

Every year”.

The book creates a seamless tapestry between personal experiences, childhood memories, local expertise, literature, folklore, poetry, nature connections and a deep love of place.  The book is sprinkled with beautiful references to English literature such as Laurie Lee’s (1959) childhood autobiography, Cider with Rosie and Shakespeare’s (n.d.) A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Selby’s encounters with place and experiences of place attachment are augmented by references to poetry from among others William Wordsworth, Patrick Kavanagh and John Agard.  This is complemented with robust scientific knowledge from well-respected commentators and environmentalists such as Rachel Carson, Robert MacFarlane and Dara McNulty.  The book is informed by the most up to date nature science and contemporary theories from the fields of biology, geography, history, sustainability, politics and international frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Selby writes beautifully about the power of the senses and the importance of engaging all of the senses not just the dominant sense of sight.  Selby calls for us to experience the natural world through our blended senses.  We need to bypass our dominant cognitive functions and learn to live and learn holistically with nature by involving body and soul.  Essentially, we must learn to behold.  According to Selby (2024:17) the immersive practice of beholding ‘involves assuming a state of multi-sensory awareness, attentive observation and curiosity, receptivity to detail and sustained focusing’.  Selby’s love letter to his local place explores:

“symbolic ways of relating to nature that draw upon a mix of aesthetic, cultural, poetic, bodily, emotional, spiritual and contemplative potential that, in tandem with cognitive ways of knowing, can give place deeper meaningfulness in our lives” (Selby, 2024: 27).

The importance of being able to name aspects of flora and fauna is discussed in detail. Selby’s own nature knowledge was enhanced by his treasured and much thumbed pocket-sized set of Observer Books about British Birds, Wild Flowers, Butterflies, Trees and Shrubs, Animals, Grasses and Common Fungi.  Selby worries about increased evidence of ‘nature deficit disorder’ (Louv, 2008) or a disconnection from local places experienced by young people due to lack of engagement, prolonged periods of time spent on mobile devices and perceptions of health and safety.  Parents and teachers can learn much about the value of spending quality time in the outdoors.

Selby illustrates the concepts of a special place, place attachment and place-based learning through a focus on his much-loved place Western Combe.  According to Selby:

“places can inspire and affirm.  We can go into a place and feel an immediate sense of connection with what are called genius loci, the spirit of place, and the anima loci, the soul of place, as manifest in both the animate and the inanimate within all that surrounds us” (2024: 24).

However, Selby reminds us that the quality of our encounters with place is determined by what we bring to the experience, through our attentiveness, openness and appreciation for the sheer wonder of nature.

Biodiversity, short for biological diversity refers to the variety of all living things on Earth, from genes and species to ecosystems and the valuable functions they perform including sustaining the well-being of humans.  Biodiversity is needed for our basic needs including food, drinking water, fuel, shelter and medicine.  Ecosystems provide vital services such as pollination, seed dispersal, climate regulation, water purification, and nutrient recycling.  Biodiversity underpins the functioning of our ecosystems, yet is being lost at unprecedented rates.  To halt or reverse biodiversity loss, it is critical to understand the complex interdependences between biodiversity, climate change and the ultimate survival of the human species.  As we face a global biodiversity crisis that threatens the future of many species and habitats, access to texts which celebrate nature have never been more important. Through a page-by-page celebration of nature, this book includes detailed engagements with flora and fauna including the otter and kingfisher in chapter two, daffodils and cowslips in chapter three, butterflies in chapter four, bluebells and beavers in chapter five, bats in chapter nine and barn owls in chapter eleven, many of which are illustrated with award winning photography.

This book makes a powerfully significant contribution to the case for conservation and restoration of the natural world.  This beautiful book, enhanced by folded artist drawn maps, is a treasure trove for nature lovers as well as essential reading for teachers and students of environmental topics.  As an educator, I look forward to sharing this book with students in an effort to celebrate local places and to revive place attachment through ‘attentive, multi-sensorial and immersive engagement with local nature’ (Selby, 2024:27).  This is a must read for all those interested in nature and the environment and is an ideal gift for friends and family.  As a reviewer, I cannot adequately convey the captivating attention to detail and wonder of nature which lies between the covers of this wonderful publication.  Therefore, I conclude with Selby’s (2024: 226-227) description of Autumn documented on 3 October 2018:

“The warm sun bathes our faces on what has turned into a summerlike afternoon. Autumn is at the gate but not yet gaining full admittance.  Leaves are rustling and shrivelling, yellowing and falling, some trees almost denuded, but there is still the feeling abroad that ‘warm days will never cease’.  The earthy smells of Autumn have yet to percolate the land.  We need the rain to finally wash away the summer.  In the warmth of the day, ivy (Hedera helix) is showing in flower, its yellow green umbels with their heady smell of honey and their rich nectar readying to become the last chance café for myriad bees, hornets, hoverflies, wasps and butterflies”.

References

Justice, J (2019) ‘Field Guide to Birds’, available: https://medium.com/justice-poetic/field-guide-to-birds-c95099876180 (accessed 17 September 2024).

Kagawa, F and Selby, D (eds.) (2010) Education and Climate Change: Living and Learning in Interesting Times, Vol. 30, Abingdon: Routledge.

Lee, L (1959) Cider with Rosie, Harrogate: Jonathan Atkinson Books.

Louv, R (2008) Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, North Carolina: Algonquin books.

Pike, G and Selby, D (1988) Global Teacher, Global Learner, Oxfordshire, England: Hodder Education.

Selby, D and Kagawa, F (2015) Sustainability Frontiers: Critical and Transformative Voices from the Borderlands of Sustainability Education, Opladen: Barbara Budrich Publishers.

Selby, D (2024) Down the Combe and Into the Meadow: Reflections on Nature and Learning, Devon: Blue Poppy Publishing.

Shakespeare, W (n.d.) A Midsummer Night’s Dream, available: https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/a-midsummer-nights-dream/read/ (accessed 17 September 2024).

Anne M. Dolan is Associate Professor and Lecturer in Primary Geography in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick.  She is the director of the M.Ed. in Education for Sustainability and Global Citizenship and editor of Teaching the Sustainable Development Goals to Young Citizens (10-16 years): A Focus on Teaching Hope, Respect, Empathy and Advocacy in Schools (2024, Abingdon: Routledge).