Читать книгу Down to the River and Up to the Trees: Discover the hidden nature on your doorstep - Sue Belfrage - Страница 11

If you’re ever out and about, and come across a spot used by a fox to scent-mark its territory, you’ll find the odour hard to ignore: so strong and musky, it can often be smelt even if you’re driving past in a car with the windows shut.

There’s a particular corner in the middle of the village where I live that always smells of fox. Mind you, the village as a whole often smells of muck-spreading and cows, so there are probably people who crinkle their noses at the entire place as they drive past. I guess I don’t notice the whiff as much as visitors do; it’s just what I’m used to. But I don’t think we should underestimate the power of smell when it comes to making sense of our surroundings, or how important smell is in stoking our impressions and memories of a place.

Here’s a suggestion. On a warm day, when scents are likely to be strong, or after a shower of rain, why not tune into your sense of smell and make an olfactory map? You can do this either on foot, scribbling down notes as you go, or, if travelling by some other means, maybe on a sketch when you get home. What strikes you? Which smells are familiar and which are unexpected? Pungent or pleasing? Plant, animal or mineral?

Once you have tuned into your sense of smell, you might be surprised by just how much you pick up, and how important those smells are in shaping your relationship with a place.