Nature Magic

Today Mary is speaking to Warwick Schiller. Warwick is a You tube superstar with over 20 million views of his horse training videos. Warwick moved from his home country of Australia in his 20s to the United States. He became NRHA Reserve World Champion representing Australia at the 2010 & 2018 World Equestrian Games.
Warwick's ever-evolving training philosophy places the horse's mental well-being at the forefront of every interaction.

He now spends his time helping people create deep and meaningful relationships with their horses, by helping them to change their perceptions about their horses and themselves.

Warwick has over 600 training videos on his online video platform, designed to create a relaxed, connected and skilled equine partner.

His podcast Journey On digs deep into the soul of the horse and the human.

Warwick Schiller is changing the way we train the horse and the way we think about ourselves.



https://www.youtube.com/c/WarwickSchiller/videos

https://www.warwickschiller.com/podcast/

https://www.warwickschiller.com

Today Mary is talking to Professor David Sobel as a contributor to the nature educators series within Nature Magic.

David is a Professor in the Education Department at Antioch University New England. He consults and speaks widely on child development and place-based education with schools, environmental organisations and the National Park Service in the US. He has authored eight books and more than 70 articles focused on children and nature for educators, parents, environmentalists and school administrators in the last 30 years.

His published books include Beyond Ecophobia and Place-based Education:: Design Principles for Educators and Wild Play, Parenting Adventures in the Great Outdoors,.

His most recent book is Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens published by Redleaf Press.

He was recognized as one of the Daring Dozen educational leaders in the United States in 2007.

This interview investigates David’s deep connection with nature and how he believes we can foster the innate spiritual connection that children have with the natural world and how this benefits humanity and our planet.

Recommended books

The Last Beautiful Days of Autumn
By: John Nichols

The Ecology of Imagination in Childhood
By: Edith Cobb

The Magical Child
By: Joseph Chilton Pearce

An Indian Boyhood
By: Charles A. Eastman

The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game
By: Paul Shepherd

Find books by David Sobel here:
https://www.davidsobelauthor.com/davidsobelbooks

Contact David:
mailto:[email protected]

Contact Mary:
[email protected]

www.burrennaturesanctuary.ie

Professor Temple Grandin is professor of Animal Sciences in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Colorado State University.

She is a prominent proponent for the humane treatment of livestock for slaughter and author of more than 60 scientific papers on animal behavior. She is a consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior, and an autism spokesperson. She is one of the first individuals on the autism spectrum to document the insights she gained from her personal experience of autism.

In the 2010 Time 100, an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, she was named among those in the "Heroes"

She was the subject of the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning semi-biographical film Temple Grandin.

Professor Grandin has been an outspoken proponent of the autism rights and neurodiversity movements.

website https://www.templegrandin.com

Some of the recommended books by Professor Grandin:

Improving animal welfare- a practical approach- 3rd edition
Animals in Translation
The Autistic Brain
Animals make us human

Check out Burren Nature Sanctuary at
www.burrennaturesanctuary.ie

Contact Mary at
[email protected]

Today Mary is talking to Professor Jan White.
Jan is a leading thinker and writer on outdoor play and advocate for nature-rich outdoor provision for services for children from birth to seven. She works as an early childhood consultant across the UK, Ireland and internationally

Jan has over thirty-eight years’ experience in education and has developed a deep commitment to the consistently powerful effect of the outdoors on young children. With a childhood love of rocks and soil, leading to a degree in Soil Science, a masters in Ecology and post-graduate teaching certificate in Science and Outdoor Education, she realises that she has always been, at heart, a committed mudologist!

Jan co-authored the globally influential booklet Making a Mud Kitchen (available in 12 languages) and is author of Playing and Learning Outdoors, now in its 3rd edition. She is honorary Professor of Practice with the University of Wales Trinity St David, and founder/co-director of Early Childhood Outdoors, the national organisation for play, learning and wellbeing outdoors.



Making a Mud Kitchen can be downloaded as a free PDF from Muddy Faces’ Outdoor Hub at https://muddyfaces.co.uk/outdoor-hub/mud/mud-kitchen-book

Sign up for the weekly ECO blog at https://www.earlychildhoodoutdoors.org/blog/

Recommended books:
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell
Tarqa the Otter by Henry Williamson
Sharing Nature with Children by Joseph Bharat Cornell
Grandfather Twilight by Barbra Berger
Frederick by Leo Lionni
Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel
Ears and the Secret Song by Meryl Dolley
Biophilia by E.O. Wilson
The Goodness of Rain by Ann Pelo
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Quotation by Kahlil Gibran:
“Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair”


Contact Jan at
www.earlychildhoodoutdoors.org

Contact Mary at
[email protected]

Check out the Burren Nature Sanctuary, the home of Nature Magic at
www.burrennaturesanctuary.ie

Buy the book
Nature Magic- How you can engage everyone with biodiversity at

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nature-Magic-Engage-Everyone-Biodiversity/dp/1838105336

Today Mary is talking to New York Times bestselling author Sy Montgomery.

Sy is a multi-award winning nature writer and author of 28 books including ‘The Soul of an Octopus- A surprising exploration into the wonder of consciousness.' It is a deeply touching and enlightening personal story

Sy writes for adults and children, for print and broadcast, in America and overseas in an effort to reach as wide an audience as possible at what she considers a critical turning point in human history. “We are on the cusp of either destroying this sweet, green Earth—or revolutionizing the way we understand the rest of animate creation,” she says. “It’s an important time to be writing about the connections we share with our fellow creatures. It’s a great time to be alive.”

She speaks frequently at schools and museums, libraries and universities.
Sy’s 28 books for both adults and children have garnered many honors. The Soul of an Octopus was a 2015 Finalist for the National Book Awards. The Good Good Pig, her memoir of life with her pig, Christopher Hogwood, is an international bestseller. She is the winner of the 2009 New England Independent Booksellers Association Nonfiction Award, the 2010 Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award, the Henry Bergh Award for Nonfiction (given by the ASPCA for Humane Education) and dozens of other honors. Her work with the man-eating tigers, the subject of her book Spell Of The Tiger, was made into in a National Geographic television documentary she scripted and narrated. Also for National Geographic TV she developed and scripted Mother Bear Man, about her friend, Ben Kilham, who raises and releases orphaned bear cubs, which won a Chris award.

Contact Sy and buy her books at:
http://symontgomery.com/

Buy the book
Nature Magic- How you can engage everyone with biodiversity
By Mary Bermingham at:
https://amzn.to/3auz19U

Connect with Mary at:
[email protected]

Check out the Burren Nature Sanctuary at:
www.burrennaturesanctuary.ie

Today Mary is talking to Dr Paddy Madden.

"How far we adults have retreated from childhood"

Paddy worked as a primary school teacher for three decades before becoming a lecturer in SESE education. He presently works as a Heritage in School Specialist and delivers CPD courses. He constructed the first school wildlife garden in Ireland in 1984 on which his thrice printed book Go Wild at School is based.

In 2010 he co-founded SEED, an organisation which seeks to promote school gardening on the island of Ireland. To date, SEED has organised 6 school garden conferences and has planned and constructed 7 school gardens at Bloom.

In 2019 Des Murtagh and Paddy launched a new website www.engagewithnature.ie

He owes his interest in nature to his parents and a primary school teacher in Lakyle N.S, Whitegate, Co. Clare.

Links

Listen to Paddy on the Inside Education podcast
http://bit.ly/2KJJgyz

Paddy's website
www.engagewithnature.ie
Videos on gardening and information on nature in general and Paddy's weekly blog.

An Exploration of the state and status of nature awareness, appreciation and education in the Irish primary school system by Paddy Madden. Available at http://rian.ie/en/item/view/164446.html

SEED (www.schoolearthed.ie)

Opening the World through Nature Journaling by John Muir Laws, Emily Breunig, Emilie Lygren, Celeste Lopez. Available to download free at
https://bit.ly/2M3xn73



Recommended books:

Go Wild at School By Paddy Madden. Available from [email protected]
www.engagewithnature.ie

Looking at Nature
By: Elsie Proctor

Wildflowers of Offaly
By: John Feehan

Gardeners World
By: Geoff Hamilton

Last Child in the Woods
By: Richard Louv

How to Teach Nature Journaling: Curiosity, Wonder, Attention
By: John Muir Laws.

Poems
By: Wordsworth

The Living Countryside Magazine (out of print)

Connect to Mary Bermingham at
[email protected]

Check out Burren Nature Sanctuary at
www.burrennaturesanctuary.ie
Also on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

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Welcome to 2021 and a Happy New Year to our listeners!

Today is the start of a series of Nature Magic podcasts talking to inspirational people who are dedicated to nature education.

Today Mary is speaking to Michelle Lawton. Michelle founded Stretch the Imagination in 2002. Stretch is a program where children are free to explore and delve deeply into their experiences.


Michelle has a passion for connecting children to the natural world and she started the Natural Classroom in 2010 bringing children out of the classroom and into nature during their weekly school days.

Over the past 10 years, the Natural Classroom has developed into a respected preschool program grounded in nurturing children’s development through creativity, inquiry and connecting to the natural world.

Michelle is also invested in supporting professional development and encouraging the growth of educators who come to work at Stretch.

She continued her own education in 2014 by studying with Jon Young and the educators of the 8 Shields Institute and she recently finished studying with Dan Siegel at the Mindsight Institute in Los Angeles.

We were so lucky to speak to Michelle who has such a deep understanding of the hands on approach to engaging children with nature and also the logistics of setting up programs such as the Natural Classroom.


Thank you for listening to Nature Magic. Please subscribe to the podcast to help with our reach and give us a rating.

Each month in 2021 we are running a draw and the prize this month is a selection of beautiful Irish gifts from the Burren Nature Sanctuary gift shop including a stunning original Burren Flower Fairies print by local artist Susan Meaney.
To be in the draw simply review the podcast and send a screenshot to [email protected].

Recommended Books:

Our Wild Calling
By Richard Louv

Braiding Sweetgrass
By Robin Wall Kimmerer

Connect with Michelle Lawton at:
[email protected]

Check out the website at:
www.stretchtheimagination.com

Today Mary is talking to Brigid Barry.

Brigid coordinates Farming for Nature since its inception in 2018. This was set up to encourage and inspire farmers that farm or wish to farm more for nature. Prior to this initiative, she was the manager of the landscape charity Burrenbeo Trust for 9 years, biodiversity officer for Clare County Council and a project officer on numerous conservation projects abroad for the previous 10 years in the Amazon, West Africa and the Zoology Dept in Cambridge. Brigid lives in Kinsale, Co.Cork.

She can be contacted on [email protected]

Recommended book
Wilding
By Isabella Tree

Check out farming for nature at
www.farmingfornature.ie

Check out Burren Nature Sanctuary at
www.burrennaturesanctuary.ie

Contact Mary at
[email protected]

Today I am speaking to Melanie Croce, Melanie is the executive Director of Seal Rescue Ireland.

Seal Rescue Ireland (SRI) is a charity organisation that works around the clock to rescue, rehabilitate and release native seals found sick, injured or orphaned from across the coast of Ireland.

Melanie studied environmental science at Virginia tech university and went on to do environmental consulting work on the BP Oil Spill Response on the Gulf Coast, before becoming an Animal Care and Education Intern for SRI back when it was known as ‘Dingle Wildlife and Seal Sanctuary’ in 2013. From there, she went on to gain further wildlife nonprofit experience as Research Associate for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, followed by a long term post doing sea turtle and endangered primate conservation and ecotourism work on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. With this new diversity of international skills, she was invited back to Ireland as SRI’s Operations Manager in April 2017, later to become Executive Director, a role she has held since. Her passion for wildlife and environmental conservation and tireless commitment to SRI has been fundamental to the organisation’s growth.

Recommended book
Gorillas in the Mist
By: Dian Fossey


Check out Seal Rescue Ireland
https://www.sealrescueireland.org/

Check out Burren Nature Sanctuary
www.burrennaturesanctuary.ie

Today Mary is chatting to Edward Dee. This was the hardest interview to set up as Eddie was not keen to get in front of the microphone!

Eddie is the phenomenal plantsman at Burren Nature Sanctuary. A truly passionate nature lover he has been planting a forest garden at his home for the last 33 years and in 2012 became the gardener at Burren Nature Sanctuary.

Eddie has single handedly developed the collection of Burren Flora in the Burren Botany Bubble, which is now an important resource for the new National Native Seed Bank in the National Botanic Gardens, in Glasnevin. With initial forecasts of success thin on the ground he has propagated and managed to display even the most fragile of our Burren Orchids. The collection is important for conservation and education and in 2019 over 30,000 people visited the Burren Botany Bubble to learn about and experience, in a 'Leave No Trace' fashion, the flora of the Burren- the most biodiverse place in Ireland.

Recommended book
The Great British Year
By: Stephen Moss

Recommended video:
Reversing desertification
By: John D Liu

Check out Burren Nature Sanctuary at
www.burrennaturesanctuary.ie

Email screenshot of your review to enter the competition to
[email protected]