When was the last time you whooped for joy in the outdoors? Not a halfhearted smile or some vague expression of enjoyment, but an irrepressible whoop from deep within your being. For many of us, the last joyous whoop was most likely years or even decades ago.
A few weeks back I was walking with close friends in North Norfolk. Two of the children — from different families — are thick as thieves, sharing a love of the frogspawn they raise in their bedrooms, their family dogs, the trees they climb, and the salty sea in which they often swim. As we walked through fields and woods, they tore ahead, exploring the wide, wild world with fascination and with joy. We stopped by a bank of gorse in bloom, its coconut scent released by the winter sun, and one of the grown-ups began to eat the yolk-gold flowers. Hearing what we were up to, the two girls hurtled back to us, excited to roll the flowers on their tongues and savour the taste of a new wild food. I wondered when we grown-ups had lost their fizzing love of all things wild, their pure, unfettered fascination.
Gorse at NWT East Winch Common by Lyn Ibbitson-Elks,
‘When I was a child, I thought as a child,’ the Book of Corinthians tells us, ‘but when I became a man, I put away childish things.’ All too sadly, the childish things we put away included climbing trees and swimming in the chill North Sea, balancing moths on our noses, and running wild and free through the woods. As children do. And whooping, of course, for sheer joy, and for the miracle — no other word will suffice — of having been born on this beautiful, biodiverse lump of rock in the sky.
In the film Mamma Mia, Donna (played by Meryl Streep) pushes aside a suggestion from Tanya (brilliantly played by Christine Baranski), saying, ‘I grew up.’ Tanya’s instant reply — my favourite line in the film — is, ‘well, grow back down again.’ And that, I suppose, is what 30 Days Wild is all about.
30 Days Wild is at once as simple and as magical as you want to make it. It is The Wildlife Trusts’ month-long celebration of all things wild, which takes place every year in June. At its heart it is a challenge: to do one wild thing each day through the month of June and — if you can — to record and share what you do with The Wildlife Trusts and each other, through our websites or on your social media.
Your one wild thing can be as easy as having breakfast outside on a sunny day and lending an ear to the fluty song of the blackbird in his tree next door. Or it can be as ambitious as kayaking right around the coast of Norfolk over the month. All that matters is that — every day through the month of June — you make conscious space for the wild in your life and share with us how you’ve done it.
The first step is simple. Just visit The Wildlife Trusts’ website and sign up to take part. In return — by post or in digital form — you’ll receive a pack with all the information you need to get the most out of 30 Days Wild.
Banded demoiselle resting on a dewy reed by Elizabeth Dack
After that, the only things you need are the outdoors, your imagination and joy. If you have a smartphone — all the better — you can tell us what wild things you’re up to on social media, by tagging Norfolk Wildlife Trust and using the hashtag #30DaysWild. Even in towns and cities there is wildlife all around you, always, and it’s easy to do just one wild thing each day. Every time I visit Norwich I’m enchanted by pied wagtails trotting in the streets, by rue-leaved saxifrage blooming bravely from the tops of walls, by lesser black-backed gulls making their nests on office rooftops and by the banded demoiselles which skip along the river. Living in a town or city is no excuse for not engaging with the wild; and no excuse for not signing up to take part in 30 Days Wild.
There are so many ways to celebrate the wild through the month of June. You can learn to identify one flower each day. Or take your shoes off in the park and let your bare feet tell you what the earth is feeling. You can keep a diary of the birds flying by your flat. Or make a mini pond in your garden from a dustbin lid. You can plant wildflowers in an old boot stuffed with peat-free compost. You can write a haiku, borrow a bat detector, go on safari on your tummy through the long grass, make a nest box, or write a love song to our Mother Earth. All that matters is that you make a little space in your life for nature every day in June and tell us what you did.
Why though? Why should you bother reconnecting with the wild this June? For one thing, we urgently need your help. We humans have unleashed twin crises for biodiversity and our environment, which will have terrible impacts on our own society in decades to come. At The Wildlife Trusts we are doing everything in our power to reverse the catastrophic damage humanity has done but — if we are to succeed — we need everybody in society on our side. We need you all as witnesses to the awesome beauty of the natural world and allies in our fight to save it.
For another thing, it will do you good. Overwhelming evidence shows that being outside and loving nature makes us feel good, physically and mentally. 30 Days Wild is our invitation to you all to get your wild back. To remember the thrill of swimming in the too-cold sea, of running like a wild child through the woods. Perhaps, as you do so, you’ll even hear a wild whoop rising from your chest. A whoop of joy in being wild.
For more information and to sign up, visit: wildlifetrusts.org/30dayswild
Header image - Evie and Tom photography