By The Green Parent
04th June 2019
30 Days Wild is now in its fifth year, last year 49 000 people signed up to take on daily ‘Random acts of wildness’ that might include ‘eating a wild lunch’, ‘tuning in by switching off’ and ‘tickling toes in the grass’. We spoke to Lucy McRobert, campaigns manager for the Wildlife Trust
“30 Days Wild is a lovely way to get closer to nature and marvel at the everyday wildlife that lives all around you. Sit quietly and enjoy watching dragonflies dance over a pond or take a moment to sow a window-box of wildflowers to help bees. Get together with your neighbours to create hedgehog highways or sow front-garden meadows along the length of your street. No matter how small the action, it all counts!
Families take inspiration from the free 30 Days Wild Pack; children love filling in the wall chart to record what they’ve done. It fits into the busiest of lives, enabling everyone to benefit from a daily nature boost, even if it’s ten minutes at the end of the day appreciating the sunset with a drink in hand.
This year we’re encouraging everyone across the UK to make their neighbourhoods wilder – to help wildlife and get communities sharing the joy of the wild – from carving hedgehog holes in fences to putting up bird and bat boxes or doing a local litter pick.
We’ve found that each year people share their own new random acts of wildness on social media. We only provide the inspiration – people taking part then interpret them and make up their own.
My personal favourite Random Act is sleeping with the bedroom window open, and curtains slightly ajar; being woken by the dawn chorus; and then strolling around the garden in my dressing gown, delighting in the amazing birdsong, and feeling dew from the lawn on my bare feet; my moment of calm in the wild, before the world wakes up.”
WILD SHOW
Louise Baker is mum to Alex, 5, and Toby, 3. She explains what the family have got from their 30 days of wild experiences.
“My husband and I often need a reminder to slow down and gaze upon the world as our children do. Nature is all around us, but sometimes we need a little nudge to sit up and take notice of its splendour.
Your gestures needn’t be that grand. Our favourite activities have been the simple ones; eating a picnic in the park, creating wild artwork, walking around barefoot, and watching a wild webcam. We did spend a month raising caterpillars and releasing butterflies, but the kids were just as happy cutting and gluing a rainbow of flower petals for a collage. The point of 30 Days Wild is to put us back in touch with nature, and if that means chasing raindrops down a window pane (because, hello, we live in Britain) then you’ve discovered something truly amazing. This is your chance to view the wild world as your child does – with total, and utter awe.
This year the boys have discovered the sheer joy to be found in litter picking, and so we’re set to invest in our own sticks so that we can spend a little time each day re-wilding our neighbourhood. We have joined several social media groups dedicated to 30 Days Wild and share our adventures with our friends. We could all live a little wilder if we allowed ourselves to be caught up in the conversations of those around us.”
