There are so many different rhythms to become aware of in the forest - not fixed rhythms, but evolving ones, so you need to be sensitive to them all the time if you are wanting to catch something specific.
Like on a few spring days when the buzzard went to the same patch of forest to shout out its presence. I was in another location the first time, but I could hear it... I even have it on film with the sound in the background, my husband being in the right area filming at the same time. So the next day I decided to be in that area of the forest at roughly the same time... and with patience I got to see the buzzard sitting on top of a tree and shouting out, as well as managing to catch it in action as it flew off.
To my great joy on this same weekend the blackbird that would come and sing at the top of the tall birch tree at the bottom of the hill where our little house in the woods is (sometimes he sits on top of the massive pear tree) returned again. He came every late afternoon all last summer and it started to feel like a friend that would come and hang out with me. He enabled me to notice the difference between his songs and those of other blackbirds elsewhere in the forest. In the same way there are rhythms in preschools, some made by the adults, but also rhythms set by bodies, by play the find their way to influence how the day rolls. It can be some children have very specific bowel movement times, so we can actually time excursions and activities so that they don't interrupt. Hunger, thirst, alertness all have their rhythms - often influenced by the rhythms created in the setting, but also from the multitude of daily rhythms the children come from - and of course weather, action and even what we are talking about can affect those rhythms. But I find it useful to tune in to the evolving rhythms, because then we can work with a natural flow rather than trying to go upstream or against the tide. I also think it enables us to see, take part, and hear more special moments. #slowdown #lookclosley #listendeeply