I was looking forward to getting a little wild in June, finding great excuses to get out into nature and getting back in touch with everything it had to offer. Unfortunately, as I’m sure many others across the country have experienced, the weather hasn’t been on our side. Clouds and blustery gusts have made the first few days of June seem more like Autumn than early Summer.
Looking back on my diary from last year’s 30 Days Wild I see that we were treated to similar conditions but once again I haven’t let it entirely get in my way of enjoying the natural world around me.
I haven’t wandered out much but every now and again over the last few days, when I have the time between working, I stare out into the garden or the street and take the time to absorb what is out there.
The variety of birds which frequent our garden is enchanting. Even now as I type I can see one and then another darting past in the reflection of my laptop screen. In the one of the trees at the bottom of the garden a pair of wood pigeons have created a little nest.We’ve already had two fledglings grow and leave and now another couple of eggs have taken their place. As lovely as it is to peek at them now and then, when we wonder down the garden, I do have to question the parents’ thoughts as they’ve built the nest only a little higher from where our German Shepard can nuzzle her snout into the tree. Not that I think Molly would do anything even if she could reach them, but she does like to make a racket.
Other than the pigeons we have a flock of starlings, pairs of house sparrow and goldfinches and all the other garden regulars. As I watch them I try to just absorb myself into the moment. They distract from all the other worries of the world around and I loose myself to engaging with and enjoying these charismatic little creatures.
For me this is a lot of what being wild and letting nature into our lives is about. It is probably quite appropriate that at the same time as beginning this experiment I have also begun an online Mindfulness course.
Being wild isn’t always about going out of our comfort zones and out of our way to become a part of nature, it is often about finding out what is there and coming to appreciate how much nature is already part of our lives. We can realise this by just observing and, as is practised in mindfulness, letting ourselves be just entirely aware of the present and push aside worries of the future and past.
Many of our fellow living beings exist in the moment and have needs which are more or less immediate. By observing them with a similar mindset we realise we aren’t such different creatures and that nature always has been something much closer than we think.
Lost in the Industrial Jungle 