Nature Walk with Lucy Lapwing - Love Is A Toad
Attendance options:
Want to tell your Chiffchaff from your Chaffinch? Not sure who’s voice is belting from the treetops in the morning? Join nature nerd and author Lucy Lapwing for some ‘in the field’ birdsong lessons, setting off from the Portobello Bookshop at 10am on Saturday 20th June.
Taking a walk on the beach, Lucy will introduce you to the world of birdsong, giving some tips and tricks when it comes to learning the voices of different feathered songsters, as well as spotting some live birdlife as we go. Lucy will also tell you a little bit about her first book, Love is a Toad, which explores our relationship with wildlife and the natural world.
Lucy will finish the walk back at the bookshop around noon where you can grab a copy of the book, and get it signed by the author herself!
Please wear suitable outdoor clothing (and suncream!) and bring portable stools, blankets or cushions if you’d like to sit down as we learn. Suitable for families, including children over 7.
About Love Is A Toad:
Nature makes us feel things. It sparks awe, curiosity and a sense of beauty and community. But as wildlife around us declines and disappears, murkier feelings rise up: guilt, detachment and fear for nature’s plight. For many years, Lucy Lapwing wrestled with these tangled emotions. So, in an attempt to make sense of this dance between joy and grief, she decided to go on a journey.
In Love Is a Toad, Lucy traverses meadows, bogs and hedgerows with her fellow nature enthusiasts, where she digs down into our relationship with the natural world. Over the course of a year, she meets bucketfuls of wildlife – Blackbird and Oak, slugs and puffballs, waterlilies, Dung Beetles and toads – as she roams across the UK.
From a river swim to wanders through woodlands, with every journey, Lucy explores how nature makes us feel, from wild grief and anger through to soaring joy and indefatigable hope. At once a celebration and an invitation to reflect, Love Is a Toad prods and pokes at our connection to the natural world, exploring its complexity in all its muddiness, messiness and wonder.
Please note: Tickets for our events are non-refundable. Professional photography and videography may take place during this event. Thank you for your understanding.
Participants:
Lucy Lapwing Author
Lucy Lapwing is a general naturalist, self-described nature nerd and science communicator. Growing up in rural Lancashire, her love for nature started in the garden and has followed her through her life. Her appreciation for the natural world increased further when, at the age of twenty-three, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma. Over the months of her chemotherapy treatment, she escaped into nature and discovered joy in writing informally about her wild findings and nature musings on her Instagram page. Using her trusty tools of humour, quirkiness and infinite, bubbling passion, she aims to show people the nature treasures under their noses.
The venue
The Portobello Bookshop
46 Portobello High Street
Edinburgh
EH15 1DA
Telephone: 0131 629 6756
Website: www.theportobellobookshop.com
Wheelchair Access
We have a ramp at the front of the shop which has a ratio of 1:10 and loading capacity of 300kg, and so should be able to be used by most wheelchair users or those with mobility vehicles. The front doors are fully automated. Our shop interior is designed to allow access throughout for wheelchair users and prams, though please note there is only 700mm wide clearance to access the staff toilet.
Sound
We use a PA system to enhance the audio at our live events. We also have a hearing loop system installed, if you’d like to use our loop system during an event please let us know and we’ll make sure we have it set up and connected to the live audio feed during the event. If you wish to attend an event and require BSL interpretation, please give us a few weeks notice and we’ll do our best to arrange an interpreter.