Will you be howling at the moon?

Tomorrow (Friday 10th January) sees the first full moon of 2020. It is  known as the wolf moon because  January tends to be the time when wolves are most vocal in Europe and North America, apparently lamenting the scarcity of food. It is the first of thirteen full moons this year as there are two in October, one on the 1st of the month and another on the 31st, which will make it a very special Halloween/Sawhain indeed. 

Tomorrow's moon is also special because it will feature a penumbral lunar eclipse (one of four this year). This differs from a full or partial eclipse because the sun, Earth and moon are not quite perfectly aligned causing the Earth's outer shadow (the penumbra) to fall on the moon's face instead of the Earth's full shadow. This will make the moon appear slightly dimmer than usual, rather than totally or partially eclipsed. You may need to look closely and be in a place with lovely dark skies and little light pollution (and of course little cloud!) to see the effect of the penumbral eclipse. 

When can you see it?

The eclipse will begin on Friday 10th January at just past 5pm and be at its maximum at 7.10pm. It will end at 9.12pm. Fingers crossed for clear skies.

We are lucky at Blackdown Yurts that the full moon rises above Blackborough Wood meaning that all four of our yurts have a fantastic view of it with the hill and trees silhouetted beneath (provided the weather obliges of course!). Check out the gorgeous image below that Mark cleverly took. 

Full moons within our 2020 open season:

8th April (pink moon) - midweek but within the Easter holidays for most
7th May (flower moon) - night before this years unusual Friday early May Bank Holiday. We are already fully booked for Friday and Saturday nights but why not come earlier and experience the full moon on the Thursday?
5th June (strawberry moon) - a Friday night - make a full moon weekend of it?
5th July (buck moon) - a Sunday
3rd August (sturgeon moon) - in the school summer holidays
2nd September (harvest moon) - just before many schools go back for Autumn
1st October (hunter's moon) - a Thursday

Moon magic and soul retreat

The names of the moons may seem unusual to us because many originated in North America according to the traditions of native Americans. I'm super excited to find out more about the way in which the moon affects us at a moon magic workshop in early February led by Teresa Searle at Intuitsoul and hosted at Serendipity in Honiton. Teresa and Elle are hosting a soul retreat at our sister business Halsbeer Farm on the Spring Equinox in March this year. See here if you are interested in learning more and how to book.

Where to see wolves...

Sadly we won't hear any wolves here tomorrow night but the nearest ones to us are actually closer than you might think. Wildwood Escot near Ottery St Mary has captive wolves along with a host of other British and former British wildlife including lynx, wild boar, otter and birds of prey.  See what we think of Escot here. We saw some gorgeous red squirrels there recently too as you can see from this video.

Hope to see you at Blackdown Yurts soon for some moon bathing, star gazing, wildlife watching and hopefully basking in some sunshine too.