Emma Mitchell 💙

@silverpebble • 93,777 subscribers

S. Times bestselling author: how nature & craft improve #mentalhealth BBC Springwatch | Creative & mental health w'shops #AuDHD,🏳️‍🌈 Rep:Juliet Pickering

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Emma Mitchell 💙

Shorts

In a field near Wicken, Cambridgeshire larkspur is grown for London florists along with cornflowers &amp; Nigella. It’s quite a sight just now-some floral dopamine for you 🌿:

17 seconds of spring flowers because we recover from stress 60% more quickly when we look at plants &amp; if we find them beautiful our brains release dopamine, lifting mood. Pause for a few moments to help your synaptic soup 🌿🧠:

Roses from the garden…wish you could smell them 🌿

Here’s a spot of (legal) poppy-based dopamine for you as there are…a few in the East of England just now:

A TREECREEPER. Honestly I wasn’t sure what it was when I first saw it-never seen one before. It’s waaay smaller than I imagined and very busy. So love its bent face tweezers of a beak for picking very tiny snacks out of the moss-brilliant beaky adaptation 🪶

One reason gardening for wildlife is worth it-a goldfinch feeding on teasels seeds earlier this afternoon. I let teasels self seed in my garden as bumblebees &amp; goldfinches are big fans:

Scientific reasons why this 17s film of a bank vole who lives under my garden steps eating a pumpkin will improve your mental health: -Watching ‘cute’ animals has been shown to alleviate anxiety -Looking at things we find lovely triggers dopamine release in the brain -Voles r gr8

Take 20 seconds to take a bee’s eye view among thousands of poppies…

This 19 sec clip 👇🏼is designed to lower levels of stress hormone, shift your thoughts away from fight or flight &amp; trigger dopamine release in your brain, so alleviating anxiety &amp; lifting your mood slightly. Oh &amp; this kind of thing is just 9/10 weeks away-a heartening thought 🌿

1000s of larkspur, nigella &amp; cornflowers &amp; a singing blackbird: 15 seconds of high summer near Wicken, UK-the kind of video proven to alleviate anxiety:

I’m standing under a yew tree in a tiny churchyard nr the centre of Cambridge &amp; a blackbird is singing his whisper song above me. A whisper song is the very very quiet winter version of the spring song &amp; not all males sing this way. An intimate &amp; precious sound. Sound RIGHT up🔈:

Videos

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A couple of cornflowers in a field near Wicken, Cambridgeshire and a little leafcutter bee gathering pollen for her babies from a cornflower in my garden. As ever my photos &amp; videos are designed to dial down stress &amp; lift your mood-a break from angst while you scroll 🌿:

Word has spread on the long tailed tit grapevine that I run a very good bird café. This family group (likely brothers &amp; sisters from a 2025 brood) came to dine. I’m passing on these 5 adorable tiny birbs (colloquial name: flying teaspoons) to you bc we all need a bit of joy rn🪶:

Tens of thousands of cornflowers in a field in Wicken. Research shows that the sight of them will help you recover from sources of stress more quickly &amp; boost dopamine release in your brain, lifting your mood…in case you need it just now:

Have you ever seen a wren have a bath? No? Nor had I till just now. Filmed through a rain-spotted window &amp; on my phone, so not perfect, but hope it brings you a spot of delight nonetheless 🪶

I’ve driven elder daughter to a place where nightingales sing. Here’s 90 seconds of one of the most beautiful sounds on earth:

This time last yr I was dealing with a cancer scare &amp; about to have surgery. I bought an old chimney pot &amp; planted it up so I’d see it when I got back from hospital. Here it is now: saxifrage, lungwort, bellis, violas, forget me not, anemone blanda, small good owl, hagstone 🌿

Due to dodgy mental health &amp; my marriage ending recently I’ve really neglected the garden. I started to clear it just now though and found treasure-a self-seeded pink primrose (wild primrose/garden centre primula cross). I didn’t plant it:

A blackbird told me it was February (sound up for some much needed birdsong dopamine-these are my very favourite birdy notes):

Research shows that watching footage of animals we find cute is relaxing. Here’s one of the bank voles that lives under my garden steps (back in April). A cherry blossom petal falls on her head but she doesn’t notice because she’s so focussed on her snacks❤️👇🏼

Was deep into talking about hawthorn nerdery &amp; why it was seen as deathy by ancient folk for my workshops but suddenly a cuckoo starts calling &amp; I forget what the hell I was talking about bc this bird is now RARE &amp; it’s such an evocative gorgeous sound. SOUND UP 🔈🪶:

No YOU were looking at lovely beech leaves behind the garden centre carpark,got stuck in a bush &amp; a posh lady then appeared next to her car. She looked aghast.There was no styling it out. Me: ‘Sorry to startle you, I’m stuck in a bush’. She laughed, thankfully. The beech leaves:

I grow spring flowers on my garden steps as I can see them from my sofa &amp; the sight helps my brain on tough days. The sight of Steve the blackbird visiting the bird café helps too (songthrush tweeting away in the background):

When humans look at something we find beautiful it causes dopamine release in our brains &amp; looking at plants shifts our brain activity away from fight or flight &amp; into rest &amp; digest mode. A field of phacelia, Norfolk:

In a field near Wicken, Cambridgeshire larkspur is grown for London florists along with cornflowers & Nigella. It’s quite a sight just now-some floral dopamine for you 🌿:

17 seconds of spring flowers because we recover from stress 60% more quickly when we look at plants & if we find them beautiful our brains release dopamine, lifting mood. Pause for a few moments to help your synaptic soup 🌿🧠:

One reason gardening for wildlife is worth it-a goldfinch feeding on teasels seeds earlier this afternoon. I let teasels self seed in my garden as bumblebees & goldfinches are big fans:

This 19 sec clip 👇🏼is designed to lower levels of stress hormone, shift your thoughts away from fight or flight & trigger dopamine release in your brain, so alleviating anxiety & lifting your mood slightly. Oh & this kind of thing is just 9/10 weeks away-a heartening thought 🌿

1000s of larkspur, nigella & cornflowers & a singing blackbird: 15 seconds of high summer near Wicken, UK-the kind of video proven to alleviate anxiety:

I’m standing under a yew tree in a tiny churchyard nr the centre of Cambridge & a blackbird is singing his whisper song above me. A whisper song is the very very quiet winter version of the spring song & not all males sing this way. An intimate & precious sound. Sound RIGHT up🔈:

A couple of cornflowers in a field near Wicken, Cambridgeshire and a little leafcutter bee gathering pollen for her babies from a cornflower in my garden. As ever my photos & videos are designed to dial down stress & lift your mood-a break from angst while you scroll 🌿:

Word has spread on the long tailed tit grapevine that I run a very good bird café. This family group (likely brothers & sisters from a 2025 brood) came to dine. I’m passing on these 5 adorable tiny birbs (colloquial name: flying teaspoons) to you bc we all need a bit of joy rn🪶:

Tens of thousands of cornflowers in a field in Wicken. Research shows that the sight of them will help you recover from sources of stress more quickly & boost dopamine release in your brain, lifting your mood…in case you need it just now:

Have you ever seen a wren have a bath? No? Nor had I till just now. Filmed through a rain-spotted window & on my phone, so not perfect, but hope it brings you a spot of delight nonetheless 🪶

This time last yr I was dealing with a cancer scare & about to have surgery. I bought an old chimney pot & planted it up so I’d see it when I got back from hospital. Here it is now: saxifrage, lungwort, bellis, violas, forget me not, anemone blanda, small good owl, hagstone 🌿

Due to dodgy mental health & my marriage ending recently I’ve really neglected the garden. I started to clear it just now though and found treasure-a self-seeded pink primrose (wild primrose/garden centre primula cross). I didn’t plant it:

Was deep into talking about hawthorn nerdery & why it was seen as deathy by ancient folk for my workshops but suddenly a cuckoo starts calling & I forget what the hell I was talking about bc this bird is now RARE & it’s such an evocative gorgeous sound. SOUND UP 🔈🪶:

No YOU were looking at lovely beech leaves behind the garden centre carpark,got stuck in a bush & a posh lady then appeared next to her car. She looked aghast.There was no styling it out. Me: ‘Sorry to startle you, I’m stuck in a bush’. She laughed, thankfully. The beech leaves:

I grow spring flowers on my garden steps as I can see them from my sofa & the sight helps my brain on tough days. The sight of Steve the blackbird visiting the bird café helps too (songthrush tweeting away in the background):

When humans look at something we find beautiful it causes dopamine release in our brains & looking at plants shifts our brain activity away from fight or flight & into rest & digest mode. A field of phacelia, Norfolk: