Light slants through a graveyard carpeted in white and green snowdrops.
Welcome to our new Nature Wellbeing Calendar series. Each month, you’ll be treated to 10 easy and enjoyable ways to get your regular dose of nature.
Let nature help you feel better!
Month 1 – January
1. You’ll be amazed at what you can find in nature over a year! Start a Nature Journal or Diary to keep a record. At the end of the year, this will be a book of treasures to both look back on and look forward to. 🙂
2. Go hunting in graveyards for snowdrops! Take a walk, cycle or bus trip to a graveyard near you. These nature-rich spots often delight with our first snowdrops. Find somewhere to sit if you can, and take some deep breaths. What can you see, hear and smell, and how do you feel in that moment? You may well be filled with a warm sense of wellbeing. Find some of the best York snowdrop displays.
3. Look and listen out for a Robin. With their bright red breast and puffed out feathers in cold weather, the Robin sings all year round. Enjoy a Robin’s relaxing song.
4. Who’s in the hedge? Hawthorn hedgerows are full of red Haw berries, a favourite treat for Blackbirds, Thrushes and visiting Redwings who migrate here over Winter. If there’s a cheery chattering from many birds, you’ve found your local sparrow troupe!
Sun sets with clouds of gold, orange and pink.
5. Winter is the best time of year for sunsets as both cold air is less humid, making colours’ bolder, and clear air blowing in from the North. Look out your window late afternoon, and bathe in the beauty of the light show to your favourite piece of music. 🙂
6. Because it goes dark early, it’s also a great time of year to go stargazing. Wrap up warm, get out on a clear evening and look up at the night sky. Can you find The Plough, or Big Dipper, shaped like a saucepan? Discover more about the Plough.
7. Got an hour? Take part in the UK’s largest annual citizen science wildlife survey, The Big Garden Birdwatch. You can count birds anywhere, no need to have a garden, and then submit your findings online. Visit the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch.
8. Set up a bird cafe with a feeder and some water. See who comes to call. Birds get used to where food can be found. Whilst you may have few customers at first, by the Birdwatch at the end of the month you may have a queue!
9. Can you find an Ash tree? These are one of the more easily identified trees in Winter due to their ‘ashy’ black buds and seeds that look like bunches of keys. Keep an eye on it in Spring when leaves emerge and see if you are right. Find out more about Ash trees.
10. Hazel trees develop early catkins, male flowers that hang down like golden tails. Tap a tail to release a cloud of pollen. Relish the joyful feeling that Spring is on its way! Take a picture, and share with friends or sketch in your Nature Journal when you get home.
Group look at and touch catkins in a hedgerow.
York Bike Belles 