Evidence shows that spending time in the natural environment improves our physical health and feelings of wellbeing, so it’s important to find ways to bring the joy of nature into your daily life.
Every year in June, The Wildlife Trusts encourages everyone to spend more time outdoors with their 30 Days Wild campaign, a month-long nature challenge. But it’s not just for 30 days, there are lots of ways to help you to connect with wildlife all year round!
We’ve picked out some ideas to get you started:
Create a wild corner
Set aside a mini wildlife refuge by letting your grass grow a little longer, and planting some wildflowers. The Wildlife Trusts has some great tips on wildlife gardening. If you don’t have a garden, create a dedicated indoor space for houseplants – you could even add gnomes or create a mini landscape. There’s lots of indoor gardening inspiration here.
Bringing the outdoors in
If you don’t feel like heading outside, you can watch the wild in action from the comfort of your sofa with wildlife webcams. Set up a computer, tablet or smartphone to peek into an osprey nest, barn owl box or bat roost.
Feed the birds
Birds love a free meal at any time of the year, so try setting up some bird feeders in your garden. If you don’t have an outside space, you can buy window bird feeders that stick to the outside of your window. When our feathered friends arrive, they can be great entertainment to watch, and often seeing which birds turn up is the best bit!
Share wild stories
Reminiscing with friends and family about times spent in nature, favourite places you have visited, and rare species you have seen, will bring back happy memories. Alternatively, reading a book about the natural world, or a novel based in the wild, could help to spark these memories too.
Breakfast and birdsong
An al fresco breakfast is a great way to start the day! If there’s no outdoor space available, breakfast can be enjoyed with an open window and the radio off - let the birds provide the background music.
And there’s more…
Check out The Wildlife Trusts’ Guide to Going Wild, which was developed with the Alzheimer’s Society to ensure all of the activities in the guide are dementia-friendly.
If you’d like support with spending more time in nature, Guinness Care at Home can help. Get in touch with us here.
