How To | Keep a Nature Diary

As signs of spring begin to appear, keeping a nature diary is a great way to log the changes in the air at this time of year

Unlike a standard diary, a nature diary needn’t be personal so it can feel much easier to get started, by simply observing what you see. There are many ways you can do it. If you’re feeling ambitious you can make a few notes each day but once a week is a good aim. Or you could make it something you sit down at once a month but really give it some time, and then end the year with a beautiful record in 12 parts. 

Similarly, consider where you want to observe nature. It makes sense to take the same walk each time you journal so that you can see the subtle changes at work, but if that might drive you mad, you could vary your nature walks and maybe even include maps to document what you saw and where. Certainly it makes sense to pick areas where you know there will be things of interest to note. A location near water or with a very ‘active’ hedge will always yield plenty of wildlife to spot, but you’ll be surprised at what forces its way up even through cracks in city paving slabs. Somehow, nature always finds a way. 

Now you’ve made the mental commitment, it’s time to think about what form your nature diary will take. Here are a few ideas.

1. A physical sketchbook in which you can draw and maybe shade with coloured pencils or paint with watercolours is a lovely keepsake. You can label the plants and wildlife you see or write a bit more by each illustration of your experience that day. 

2. If you like the idea of a notebook in your hand but aren’t an arty type, you could simply log your nature sightings in pencil or pen with a time and date. Maybe look your sightings up when you get home and add Latin names or interesting facts as you learn them.

3. Should you fancy getting really down and dirty with nature, your book could include natural dyes and pigments made from the plants and earth you happen upon. You can find out how to make natural dyes from nature with a quick internet search. 

4. Another visual sort of nature diary, but a little easier for those of us not blessed with a single artistic bone in our bodies, is a scrapbook. You can press and dry leaves and flowers, stick in seeds under sellotape and add pieces cut from maps. Then add labels in your very best handwriting.

5. Go digital and record your nature walks using photos. You could print out your favourites or simply upload them to a blog or Instagram account. 

Our blog today was inspired by a feature in our February issue in which we met Jenny Coats, whose nature diaries can be followed on her account @jenny.coats.created.

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More ways to appreciate nature…

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Life lessons | from Adrian Mole

We can learn all sorts of life lessons from a peek at the pages of someone’s diary (particularly those of teenaged intellectuals, of course). 

Stuck at a crossroads in life, or struggling with a moral conundrum? Look no further than the diaries of our favourite young Intellectual. Adrian Mole, who always has words of wisdom, whether you’re struggling with a friend who has become a punk or a lack of correspondence from Malcolm Muggeridge. 

When simple pleasures present themselves, make the most of them and store them away in your memory to cheer you another time. 

“At four o’clock I had one of those rare moments of happiness that I will remember all my life. I was sitting in front of Grandma’s electric coal fire eating dripping toast and reading the News of the World. There was a good play on Radio Four about torturing in concentration camps. Grandma was asleep and the dog was being quiet. All at once I felt this dead good feeling.”

Living an authentic life is important, but sometimes warmth and comfort are more vital still.

“Nigel is a punk at weekends. His mother lets him be one providing he wears a string vest under his bondage T-shirt.”

Looking after your body will improve energy levels but so much of it is about taking good care of your wellbeing, too. 

“My skin is dead good. I think it must be a combination of being in love, and Lucozade.”

Home is where the heart is but often it pays to expand one’s horizons if adventure is what you want. Just be sure it is what you want. 

“I have never seen a dead body or a female nipple. This is what comes from living in a cul de sac.”

To have a real chance at achieving your dreams, you should plot a route backwards from where you want to be to where you are now. And play to your strengths.

“Had a long talk with Mr Vann the Careers teacher today. He said that if I want to be a vet I will have to do Physics, Chemistry and Biology for O level. He said that Art, Woodwork and Domestic Science won’t do much good. I am at the Crossroads in my life. The wrong decision now could result in a tragic loss to the veterinary world.”

Don’t waste your time on things you think you should like; life is short and there are many things out there that will give your pleasure. 

“I think Jane Austen should write something a bit more modern.”

Only give for the joy of giving, rather than the prospect of receiving thanks.

“I remembered my resolution about helping the poor and ignorant today, so I took some of my old Beano annuals to a quite poor family who have moved into the next street. I know they are poor because they have only got a black and white telly. A boy answered the door. I explained why I had come. He looked at the annuals and said, ‘I’ve read ’em,’ and slammed the door in my face. So much for helping the poor!”

Remember that ‘there but for the grace of God… before criticising others’

“My grandma let the dog out of the coal shed. She said my mother was cruel to lock it up. The dog was sick on the kitchen floor. My grandma locked it up again.”

We’re all allowed to have off days, so don’t be hard on yourself. Especially if you are extraordinary. 

 “I still haven’t heard from Malcolm Muggeridge. Perhaps he is in a bad mood. Intellectuals like him and me often have bad moods. Ordinary people don’t understand us and say we are sulking, but we’re not.”

Whatever the situation, your grandmother was probably right about it. 

“Grandma rang and said that it was all around the Evergreens that I was ‘keeping bad company’. She made me go round for tea.”

We were inspired to turn to Mole after reading our feature Dear Diary, about great diarists in our February issue, which is on sale now.

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More from our February issue…

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