Exploring Darkness And Accepting Our Animal Nature With Tiffany Francis-Baker

Experiencing the dark of night can help connect us with nature and perhaps we need to tap into that animal side more often in order to respect the cycle of the seasons, renew our energy and our mental health, and help wildlife that need it to survive. In this interview, we also talk about the attraction of pagan fire festivals and the Northern Lights, the power of light in the darkness, and how it connects to something primal deep within. Tiffany Francis-Baker is a nature writer and illustrator. Her latest book is Dark Skies: A Journey Into the Wild Night. Show notes * The attraction of exploring the natural world at night and why we need dark skies * Reconnection with our wilder selves and the importance of seasons in nature and our lives * Pagan fire festivals and the Northern Lights * How local exploration has increased during the pandemic * The relationship between writing and illustration * Recommended books on travel and nature You can find Tiffany Francis at TiffanyFrancisBaker.com Transcript of the interview Jo Frances Penn: Tiffany Francis-Baker is a nature writer and illustrator. Her latest book is Dark Skies: A Journey Into the Wild Night. Welcome, Tiffany. Tiffany Francis-Baker: Hey. Hello. Thank you very much for having me on. Jo Frances Penn: I’m excited to talk; it’s such an interesting topic. I’ll start with the most obvious thing, which is humans are naturally afraid of the dark. Why are you so drawn to the dark? Tiffany Francis-Baker: Obviously, we are diurnal creatures, which is the opposite of nocturnal. Generally speaking, we tend to do all of our important stuff in the daytime and then nighttime’s for sleeping usually. And obviously, in the modern world, that is the way we need to stick to things or we’ll all be a little bit sleep deprived and nothing will get done. But I do find just now and then, just trying to spend some time out in the night, I find it very cathartic. I feel like the modern world can be very chaotic and very stressful sometimes. And I feel like when you go out at night, you can escape everything. You can escape all the people, you can escape the busyness of the world, you can escape day-to-day chores and life, and just have a few moments of peace and calm and just experience nature and the landscape from a different perspective as well, which I think is really important. Jo Frances Penn: We have listeners from all over the world and you talk there about going out in England. What might people find if they go out to explore in England at night, in particular? You have birds in the book, you have a lot of nature, and nature’s obviously different wherever you are. What might people hear, or smell, or even see? Tiffany Francis-Baker: This is the thing, you can see things, but it’s much more exciting, all the other things you can tune your senses into. Owls are an amazing thing. You don’t necessarily always see them, but I have from my house had tawny owls and barn owls. So owls are a really fun thing to listen for, especially in winter, you can hear them quite well when they’re calling. And then you’ve got mammals like foxes, and badgers, and that sort of thing, lots of small mammals out at night as well. And then you’ve also got some more interesting rare birds and animals in the summer. If you go on heathland in the nighttime, you might hear a nightjar, which is an amazing ground-nesting bird that only nests on heathlands and it makes us amazing mechanical churring noise at dusk.