INTUITION MAPS
Fermyn Woods Country Park
Lyveden Road
Brigstock
Northants
NN14 3HS
Intuition Maps by Beccy Mccray is a co-created artwork which invites participants and visitors to reflect on animal instincts – their own and that of the more-than-human world – in the context of climate change adaptation. It aims to generate a sense of solidarity and interconnectedness with nature and each other.
Originally set in the woodland of Irchester Country Park, Intuition Maps presents a new and unexpected walking route, guided by neon waymarks that lead visitors on a journey through the landscape. These waymarks, crafted to attract and provide sanctuary for the Red Admiral butterfly – a species now overwintering in the UK due to climate change – are both functional and symbolic, embodying the project’s themes of migration, empathy, and resilience. The work was relocated in Easter 2025 due to forest operations to tackle ash dieback at the park, itself aided by the changing climate.
The project was co-created with local communities through workshops that explored instincts, migration routes, and speculative climate scenarios. Participants contributed to the final artwork by mapping a new walking route based on their sensory experiences and instincts. Participants maps and local wildlife data were fed through an AI algorithm, to help generate the new route, blending human and non-human intelligence in a unique, collaborative process – after all, we could all be
climate refugees one day.
Intuition Maps encourages visitors to contemplate the parallels between the instinctual movements of animals and human migration. This artwork is not just a path through the woods but a call to action – a reminder to reconnect with our intuition and the more-than-human world. It fosters a sense of solidarity and hope amidst the complexities of today’s environmental and political landscapes.
Beccy comments, “Birds are used as warning indicators of environmental change – the changes we now observe in their migration patterns reflect significant climate and habitat changes. The flightways of birds have also become the routes of flight for some refugees. But why do people take these more dangerous, illegal routes, and why are they demonised for doing so?”, adding that for many, “migration is a solution not a problem”.
- Download more information and a rudimentary map here, and complete the route using your intuition.
- For a deep dive into the Intuition Maps process and research, please see Beccy’s visual essay here.
- Or chat with Beccy’s custom GPT, trained with love and solidarity, here.
Funded by Northamptonshire Community Foundation’s Creative Climate Action Fund.
Images: Daytime, Elizabeth Blackie. Nightime, Beccy Mccray.