The bollan bane — mugwort — was gathered at midsummer and worn as a chaplet to protect against enchantment. It grows wild across the island.

This summer project is a nature journal: find and identify the plants that appear in Manx tradition. Mugwort for midsummer. Mountain ash (rowan) for May Day. Rushes for Tynwald. Elder, which the fairies favoured. Gorse, which the Manx people burned to clear land.

Press specimens, draw them, photograph them. Note where you found them and when.

By midsummer, gather your own bollan bane and make a chaplet. You’re doing something Manx people have done for longer than anyone can remember.