Chimp Chat, Simple Pleasures, Festive Gap & Mistle(Toe) Thrush

Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
27^th December 2025

Chimp Chat

Welcome to Twixmas – that discombobulating time between Christmas Day and a brand new year.  I really enjoy time off work at this time of year as the still-early dark evenings give me permission to read even before tea.  I’ve been reading a lot. One of my latest favourites is Path Through the Jungle.  The author Prof. Steve Peters is definitely one of those people I would love to have a long chat with.  But in lieu of that, I make do by reading his books.

Possibly best known for The Chimp Paradox, his new book ‘Path through the Jungle’ explains how to use ‘Chimp Management’ to become robust and resilient. Professor Peters explains the most complex neuroscience in fabulously straightforward – and often humorous terms with his ‘Chimp Management Mind Model’.  The Path Through The Jungle covers his original ‘Chimp chat’ but expands on how understanding how it can scupper your thoughts can help you in so many ways.  It is a chunky book and ironically I feel you need a certain amount of discipline to get into it, but its well worth the effort.  You could also listen to Prof. Peters discussing Chimp Challenges on various podcasts, he is very easy to listen to.

My fascination with the subject will mean that it will become a much-discussed topic in work when we go back, especially when I spot someone’s Chimp in overdrive and am able to advise they pacify it with a banana.  You really need to read it.

Thankfully, becoming robust and resilient are skills you can learn but unfortunately are seldom taught.  I really wish I had learned this stuff instead of Pythagora’s Theory.  Becoming robust will allow you to have strategies in place to manage your own mind during more challenging situations and developing resilience will enable you to bounce back from knock backs. Trust me, it makes for a far easier life than being ‘emotionally incontinent’.  I can confidently say it will be a great book to go into the new year with.

Simple Pleasures

It’s no secret to those who know me that I can all-to-easily be disappointed.  I have such clear ideas of the way something ‘should’ be and am inevitably disappointed when that ideal isn’t reached or realised.  That’s one reason for ordering The Jungle Path.  So I was encouraged to be reminded about the importance of finding joy in the smaller (and more reliable) things.  Like a beautiful sunrise, a perfectly ripe avocado or an easy-to-open farm gate.  JB Priestley wrote a book called ‘Delight’ about this very thing.  Some of his simple pleasures included ‘a new box of matches’, ‘the sound of an orchestra tuning up’ and ‘not going to a party’.

As many of you will be with friends and family during Twixmas, why not put a list together of all your simple pleasures – you’ll be amazed at how much they differ. It would be my idea of hell to listen to an orchestra tuning up, for example.  And maybe keep the list to hand to pick you up when you feel let down.

Festive Gap

This ‘weird week’ also known as the Festive Gap – among other things – can be testing for some people, for all sorts of reasons.  Not least, as Benjamin Franklin noted, ‘Guests, like fish, begin to smell and go off after three days’.

I think the general idea is to take some time to relax at the end of the year and maybe enjoy making some plans for the coming year.  It’s also a good time for long walks – for those able to take time off, of course.

As the weather has been so kind – well, dry – I actually had the best Christmas and Boxing Day, stripping out an old ‘bulgy’ dry stone wall in the back yard of the cottage and rebuilding it. I was in my element.  The wood burner was lit, and the back door open so Yogi could lay inside in the warm supervising the works.  The kettle and radio were my only other companions and my Christmas Dinner (and Boxing Day leftovers) were devoured at the end of a couple of very satisfying days.  Although some may question my festive choices, it has been a lovely Christmas – I hope yours was too.

Mistle(Toe) Thrush

I have also has a couple of nice twilight walks. I always love that time of day, but especially at this time of year when everyone’s decorations are up and windows ‘glow’ with light indoors. It’s so very peaceful.

Whilst walking I have also noticed that noticed some holly trees are still laden with scarlet berries.  There has been a glut of fruit and berries this year and some say that holly berries are the very last berries to be eaten – although usually gone weeks before Christmas – as there are quite bitter. Those factors probably contribute to berries still being in situ after Christmas but there is also a much cleverer reason.

 Cue the mistle thrush.  As a kid I always thought the mistle thrush was actually the ‘mistletoe thrush’, and my dad, who thought it was funny, never corrected me.  He was the same with other things too, meaning that for years, I thought Poplar trees were Popular trees.

I wasn’t too far off the mark though, as the mistle thrush is named after its love for mistletoe berries. Visually, it is much bigger and a bit ‘greyer’ than the song thrush, and has a longer tail, so quite easy to identify.

And despite the ‘stupid’ label of ‘bird brain’ (which always annoys me), it’s incredibly clever.

The mistle thrush eats seeds and fruit, as well as worms and insects and of course, the festive mistletoe berries.  But despite the alleged bitterness, they are also fond of holly berries.  So if it finds a holly tree that is particularly plentiful in berries during the late autumn, it will become fiercely territorial and just guard this food source closely, without actually eating the berries.  The reason is to ‘save them’ for when other berries have been stripped by hungry birds.  It reminds me a bit of Mum not letting us eat certain food that she had stockpiled for Christmas as it was only ‘for Christmas’.

You can often see two mistle thrushes defending the same tree, which seems to be a better plan than losing out altogether.

So if you do see a holly tree with berries on at this time of year, and there are plenty, take a little time to watch quietly and you may well spot a vigilant mistle(toe) thrush nearby.

Whatever you are doing, have a fabulous Festive Gap and I wish you all the best for a Happy New Year. I hope 2026 is kind to you all and may all your troubles last as long as your resolutions.