What is it?
A Wildlife Trust initiative beginning in 2015, it is the biggest nature challenge in the UK, with the aim of encouraging people everywhere to participate by doing something wild every day in June. Here’s the original video from the Wildlife Trusts in 2015. The theme for these first few days is ‘Look, Touch and Smell’. You can access free activity packs from the Wildlife Trusts website which come with some materials you can use, or you can come up with your own ideas and activities to get started.
Why participate?
In 2020, a five-year review of 30 Days Wild participants showed that:
- 30 Days Wild resulted in very significant increases in nature connectedness for those who began with a weak connection to nature – their nature connectedness rose by 56%
- 30 Days Wild made people, particularly those who started with a relatively weak connection to nature, significantly happier and inspired increases in pro-nature behaviour
- 30 Days Wild boosted the health of participants by an average of 30%.
30 Days Wild 5 year review, University of Derby/The Wildlife Trusts
Generally, it can help you appreciate nature around you and encourages better connections with the natural world from the youngest to the oldest generations. This video shows one family’s positive experience from participating. It can be a fun challenge to get people involved in and there are lots of ideas online to inspire you – see a few below.
Above video: Eli kicks off 30 Days Wild with a breakfast by the River Forth, enjoying the sounds of nature.
Most popular random acts of wildness
In 2020, The Wildlife Trusts asked 1,000 people who took part in 30 Days Wild their favourite random acts of wildness. The top 10 most popular activities were:
- Listening to birdsong – 88%
- Exercising outdoors – 81%
- Eating or drinking outdoors – 79%
- Identifying wildflowers – 77%
- Planting wildflower seeds – 71%
- Going on a bug hunt – 59%
- Hugging or admiring a tree – 58%
- Making a wildlife home (birdbox, bee hotel) – 49%
- Going barefoot on the grass or earth – 49%
- Sketching, drawing or painting nature – 47%
Ideas
We have some activities on our website which you can access by clicking here, these include activity booklets and a colouring pack, which can be a great way to get the conversation about nature started with younger ones in the family.
Think about your local area – what kind of habitats are nearby, like woodland, rivers, grassland, can you name these habitat kinds? What types of wildlife do you think you would see in each kind of habitat? Since the theme is ‘Look, Touch and Smell’, discuss what your senses might encounter when you go out. Step outside and see if you were right or if there’s any surprises!
Wildlife A-Z: create a postcard-sized drawing of a piece of wildlife for each letter in the alphabet, you may be surprised with what types of wildlife you can think of for each letter.
I Spy when on a river walk – a nice way to start observing things around you is playing a game of I Spy when outside with others, this get you thinking about what kinds of things are happening in and around the river nearby.
Wildlife Trusts also have a ‘Natural Sounds map’ sheet which you can access here.
Feel free to share your ideas and what you’re getting up to this June for 30 Days Wild with us. You can use the hashtags #30DaysWild and #WildTakeover while tagging us on our socials – @ForthRiversT on Twitter, ForthRiversTrust on Instagram or on our Facebook page here. We can’t wait to see what you get up to.