it comes to letting the wild into your life, a little will go a long way. That’s why Random Acts of Wildness are perfect: they’re quick and simple to do, and when put together they add up to a big change – for you and for wildlife.
We all instinctively know it: spending time outdoors is good for us. After all, we are part of nature, so it makes sense that getting your daily wildlife fix will do you the world of good. There’s lots of science out there now that underpins this, too: spending time in nature makes us happier and healthier. Just like eating a balanced diet and exercising helps our minds and bodies, wildlife and wild places help us to get active, encourage us to be more social, improve our confidence and creativity, and help us cope with stressful life events. Nature can help us recover from illnesses, cope with grief and loss, and even help people to manage mental health problems, like anxiety, stress and depression. In many ways, it’s the ultimate medicine – and it’s free.
There’s no excuse for not getting the whole family involved, too. Nature is great for all ages and can have the biggest impact on the young and the elderly, so take the kids, grandma and grandpa and anyone else you can find on this wild adventure with you.
Everyday wild
Random Acts of Wildness aren’t about trekking to distant wild lands, climbing mountains or getting lost in dense jungles – they are about the wild near you. If you want to experience nature every day, it has to be local. It’s also been proven that doing something wild every day can have a significant impact on your health and happiness: this isn’t about an annual nature fix by going on an exotic holiday, it’s about discovering how amazing the nature on your doorstep already is.
Wild places are all around us. Each one is home to very different kinds of wildlife, but all of them can be fun to explore. I want to help you make the ordinary extraordinary. As an introduction, I’ve pulled together some of my favourite wild places and I hope that as you begin your wild adventure, you’ll get to experience some (or all) of these landscapes. They can all be found right here in the UK: proof that you don’t have to look far to find your own wild life.
Wild places
Gardens
Finding the wild every day has to start close to home, and every garden has the potential to become a wild place, no matter how small. If you don’t have a garden, you could work your magic on a balcony or transform communal spaces with your neighbours. Domestic gardens in the UK are thought to take up over 430,000 hectares. Imagine the difference we could all make for wildlife if every garden was wildlife-friendly: we could create the UK’s biggest nature reserve!
There are a few key things that you can do to make sure your garden is a wild garden. Some of these are full-blown Random Acts of Wildness, so they’re covered in detail later on, but think simply about what wildlife needs to feel safe, secure and at home: food, water and shelter. A garden bursting with bugs will also attract birds and other animals. By making sure that your insects have some cover (grass, log piles or compost heaps, for example) and plenty of food (nectar- and pollen-rich plants), you’ll be encouraging other wildlife in, too. Avoid using slug pellets and pesticides. If you have room, even the smallest of ponds will bring huge diversity, and you can support wildlife by providing feeders and nest boxes.
In the spring and summer, look out for a whole range of beautiful butterflies fluttering among the flowers, like painted ladies, peacocks or small tortoiseshells. A healthy population of moths and beetles will attract bats to your garden, too. Birds like house sparrows, starlings, blackbirds, robins, wrens and dunnocks are quintessential garden species that can be seen all year round, and you might also attract a variety of tits and finches. If you’ve got a pond, common frogs and common toads might make themselves at home, and a small hole in your fence will make your garden accessible for hedgehogs.
Parks and churchyards
I’ve always loved the way that parks can bring people together. Whether a children’s play area or a vast, green common, these places can be great for getting your daily wild fix. The same can be said of churchyards. Quiet places of tranquil reflection, the peaceful atmosphere in a churchyard can help you hone in on birdsong. In the winter, scan the tops of berry-laden trees (like rowan or holly) for thrushes, which will feast on these tiny fruits: song and mistle thrushes love these areas, and redwings and fieldfares may stop over, too. An open grassy park will be great for green woodpeckers. Hedgehogs love to rummage around in fallen leaf litter, while baby rabbits might be seen taking their first unsteady steps. Even foxes and badgers use these areas to explore. A park or churchyard can be a magical place at sunrise, so wrap up warm and experience the dawn chorus, or welcome in spring by noting when you first see snowdrops or daffodils shooting up.
Towns and city centres
With so many people living or working in cities now, it’s important to be able to find the wild in the urban jungle. Surrounded by concrete, glass and high rises, it can be hard to imagine how any wild animal could find a home here, but trust me when I say that cities can be unexpected places in which to have a really wild experience. Birds will use the tall buildings as makeshift cliff faces, building their nests and raising their young high up to avoid predators. Gulls, ducks and pigeons all use this tactic, and now peregrine falcons have adapted their lifestyle, too. In many of our major cities, peregrines can be seen swooping and diving among the buildings. Foxes, deer and hedgehogs make the most of our cities, and being so used to people you can often get much closer to them. With so many towns built on rivers, otters can occasionally pop up, and cormorants and herons may choose to fish along the banks. Flowers will grow in pavement cracks and overgrown, abandoned sites (known as ‘brownfield’ sites) can become quickly colonised by a range of birds, bugs and mammals.
Woodlands and forests
I was lucky enough to grow up near to a woodland, where I was allowed to play and explore with my friends. At the time, it seemed like the biggest forest in the world, full of hiding places, trees to climb and hidden treasures. ‘My’ woodland is in fact little more than a spinney, but with its criss-crossing paths and hidden wonders it isn’t any less magical. In the spring, it’s carpeted with bluebells; the trees are covered in budburst and birds bellow out their chorus. In the summer, it’s alive with butterflies, and as the autumn sets in, fungi erupt from every tree or rotten branch, and mushrooms sprout from the leaf litter. It’s a typical broad-leafed woodland, with dappled light, lush undergrowth, a strong earthy smell and a healthy population of crows, rooks and jackdaws. Smaller birds, like finches, are regulars, along with great spotted woodpeckers, treecreepers and nuthatches. In the spring, wild garlic fills the air with a pungent smell. If you take time to explore a woodland near you, you might also spy tawny owls, jays, muntjac and other deer, as well as badger setts and fox dens.
Little copses and spinneys like this can be found all over the place, but there are of course much bigger forests to explore. Trees are either deciduous (lose their leaves in the winter) or evergreen, which hang on to their leaves or needles all year round. Depending on the kind of woodland you’re in, you’ll see different wildlife wherever you go. The Forest of Dean in the southwest is home to wild boar; while forests in the north of England and Scotland might contain red squirrels, pine martens or specialist birds, like the capercaillie of the Caledonian pine forest in Inverness-shire. Forests in the south of England can be home to beautiful butterflies like purple emperors or white admirals, and wildflowers like red campion and orchids. No matter how big or small, woodlands are perfect for a wild adventure.
The coast
Britain is a coastal country. From stretching sand dunes to pebbly beaches, foreboding tidal mudflats to rocky cliffs, as an island nation we love to be close to the sea. Living in the Midlands, I try to get to the coast as often as possible for my dose of vitamin ‘sea’. Whether it’s a gentle stroll on the sand (with a quick litter-pick thrown in), scanning out to sea for