Mother Nature’s amazing sights and sounds!

How incredible is Mother Nature? And how incredible it is that her wonders are laid bare to us every single day, and yet we so often take them for granted. Plants and flowers grow, sometimes in the most diverse situations, appearing starved of water or light, and yet grow they do. Noted English television gardening presenter Alan Titchmarsh said, “They just want to live,” and that’s why plants can seek out every last vestige, every last drop, of water or moisture from the earth and use it, or store it for later use, to sustain itself in harder times. Plants are the perfect example to us of thrift, economy and conservation. Even weeds have uses, and Titchmarsh explains that “weeds are merely plants in the wrong place,” writing that in some parts of the most specific of garden environments he has allowed nature to ‘run wild,’ creating an “unkempt area where nature can take control.” He goes on to say that “Even a small area of wildflowers and plants creates a home for many of nature’s insect species. Nettles, dandelions and such weeds are attractive to butterflies, bees and the like, which in turn attract birds, lizards and other mammals, and before you know it, you have a food chain and an eco-system,” which is mirrored in the seas, skies, rivers, mountains and beaches of our amazing planet. To drive up to the balcony walk of Jabal Shams is another example of communing with nature, here in the Sultanate, as the drive and the geological sights are jaw-droppingly evident as to the power of nature, yet, they pale into insignificance if you take in a sunrise! One of the most amazing experiences I have ever known was there, as the dawn broke on a New Year’s Day, stood looking out over a canyon where the Sun revealed new shapes, shades and colours as it rose, with light seeking out corners and fissures in the canyon walls, each second recording a new visual experience, in the same way the sea changes with every millisecond. But wait, there was more! As I gazed in awed silence, a shrill cry filled the air, as did others, and the Egyptian Buzzards, from their nests high in the mountains, wheeled in the early morning sky, the cool air ensuring every sound of communication, challenge or delight was heard. It was simply awesome, in a way that a new car, a new job, or a pay rise, can never be, and all it needed was one’s time, and appreciation. Nature too abounds in the seas around us, and so often the schools of dolphins reward our ‘oohs and aahs’ by cavorting around us in the coastal areas, but when we learn about the sardine predominant food chains that bring them, and the tuna to these shores, our appreciation for the wondrous working of nature only becomes more. The sights too of sailfish darting with incredible speed and elegance, the giant stingrays leaping playfully in stormy seas, and the rare sightings of whales, becoming rarer by the day, are sights to appreciate for life. Let alone the tiny flying fish which must surely rank as nature’s greatest oddity. Eels, sea-snakes and the many seabirds of our coastline are too often taken for granted, yet, are amazing examples of the world of nature that we can see without going under the sea, or into the heavens, surely an opportunity we should all seize without hesitation. Even in the wadis and deserts, find a plant or tree, and you will, if you take the time, see nature’s creatures existing, no, coexisting, for one cannot survive without the other, in some way shape or form. The saying goes, “Wake up, and smell the roses,” and that is the message. Take the time to appreciate nature, its environment, and your environment, then let many of your future decisions and choices, be governed by what is best for Mother Nature.