About me
Hi, I'm Hatty! I am an apprentice of the Land, custodian of the Earth and inheritor of our ancient wisdoms. I live in Devon at the wild edge of Dartmoor and the winding River Dart, but I was raised by the rolling fells, wide lakes and ancient woodlands of the Lake District. My love of the Land, and deep friendship with the Earth guides me and grounds me in all I do.
I am fascinated by the nexus of people and place, how our relationship with the Land can evolved and be retold, respelled and restoried. This is the thread I feel called to follow within myself and in partnership with the communities to which I am honoured to belong, both human and beyond-human. To rewild at every level and bring us all back home.
Beithe
Beithe (pronounced Bey-uh, Beh-huh, or Beh) is the Scottish Gaelic name for the Birch tree. In ecological wisdom, the Birch is known as a pioneer species, an organism that establishes itself early on in the development of an ecosystem, and creates conditions for other species to grow and flourish. Birches also commonly form large stands in woodlands, and anyone who has walked through a Birch woodland in spring knows their delicate beauty. In folklore, and the indigenous Celtic wisdom of the British Isles, the Birch represents new beginnings, vitality and community. Beithe is the first letter of the Ogham alphabet. So just as a Birch leaf curves in symmetry, so one way of seeing reflects the other, how science can echo traditional wisdom.
Because of this, to me, the Birch tree is the perfect symbol of holistic, ecocultural rewilding: it is a trailblazer, paving the way for other things to grow, and showing us how there is more than one way of knowing the world.
There is more to this story, of how Beithe Rewilding came to its name, but perhaps that is a tale for another time, around a campfire, under the stars.