Beat migraine pain

Practising mindfulness could reduce the pain felt by migraine sufferers.

A study by Wake Forest School of Medicine in the US showed that practising yoga and meditation helped reduce discomfort felt during a migraine, as well as the number of migraines participants had in a month. It also improved quality of life and meant they were less likely to be depressed.

The study took place over eight weeks with 89 sufferers. Half followed a course of meditation and yoga, while the others were educated on avoiding triggers. Those practising mindfulness had less pain and a better quality of life compared to the education group.

Once home to religious hermits in the 7th century, today the Farne Islands are a summer sanctuary for 23 species of seabirds, including more than 43,000 breeding pairs of puffins, along with fulmars, Arctic terns, guillemots, razorbills, shags and kittiwakes. Between May and July there are a quarter of a million feathered residents nesting on the islands.

Boat-loads of visitors – numbers regulated by the National Trust – journey across the narrow stretch of water, known as the

Inner Sound, for close encounters with the seabirds on Inner Farne and Staple. David Attenborough described the Farne Islands as his favourite wildlife site in the UK. ■■nationaltrust.org.uk/farne-islands

The ivy-clad Bat Tower is in Toys Hill – a 200-acre woodland that inspired Octavia Hill to co-found the National Trust in 1895.

Following the Great Storm of 1987, it was converted from a water tower to a bat hibernaculum – a roost site used from October and March for winter hibernation. Since then, records show that along with common pipistrelles there have been brown long-eared bats and rare Natterer’s bats in the area.

At this Dark Sky Discovery Site, looking up at the stars filling the bowl-shaped expanse of sky feels like you can reach out and touch every single one of them.

Although stargazing is a year-round activity, the winter months provide greater darkness with less chance of atmospheric humidity, meaning the sky is crisp and clear. It’s also the best time to see the prominent Orion constellation, visible in the northern hemisphere between November and February. ■■darkskydiscovery.org.uk