Wild Week!
Thursday 23rd October
Anyone who has tried dieting will tell you it can be difficult to keep your good intentions going. It’s easy enough to ditch the junk and chocolate for one day, but very few manage to make the change last.
Doing something that alters your habits, even if you know it’s good for you, can feel like an overwhelming commitment: a pressure which often results in best intentions falling by the wayside.
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust relies on a network of committed volunteers to help carry out work at our nature reserves. We are always looking for more help, of course, but we understand that for many people, trying to squeeze extra activities into an already hectic schedule is nigh-on impossible. That said, it’s quite easy to get hooked on wildlife. There is a certain domino effect, when doing something satisfying that makes you feel good, it can act as an eye-opener and a catalyst. But you won’t know unless you try.
There will be plenty of chances to get involved with our work during the winter. But now could be as good a time as any, during Wild Week programme.
Run by The Wildlife Trusts in partnership with the BBC and BTCV, Wild Week is encouraging everyone to get out and “do one thing for wildlife”. It’s a small commitment, but one which could benefit yourself, as well as nature. The focus of this year’s Wild Week is gardening: so you don’t even need to stray further than your back yard to take part.
Of course, for the more adventurous amongst us, autumn is a great time to try conservation work. Woodlands are a riot of red and gold, berries are ripening, animals are stocking up for the winter and wetlands and rivers are alive with thousands of migrant birds. You could take part in a fungal foray, help lay a path or take part in a wildlife identification course. Any “one thing” is an achievement, whether creating a pond or laying a hedge, installing a bird bath or setting up a bat box. Work doesn’t have to take place in private gardens, either. School grounds and communal green spaces are also ideal for wildlife-friendly features.
Wild Week provides plenty of opportunities for you to do one thing: and if everyone takes part, even if they do just one thing, the environment would be vastly improved.
Wild Week takes in Hallowe’en and there are all sorts of things online to help you stage an event, including audio recordings of things going bump, hoot or hiss in the night, guides on building bat and bird boxes and several pocket guides, covering nocturnal wildlife, fungi and creepy crawlies.
Wild Week also coincides with the launch of this year’s BBC Autumnwatch, presented by two of The Wildlife Trusts’ vice-presidents, Bill Oddie and Simon King, together with Kate Humble. Autumnwatch will be set on a Dorset Wildlife Trust reserve, Brownsea Island, and will feature lots of things to look out for during this spectacular season, as well as plenty of inspiring ways to get involved with wildlife.
Conservation may not be your thing, or you may find you love the feeling of being connected to your environment. You only need to do one thing to find out.
And you can guarantee it will benefit for your health and the environment – plus it’ll be far more fun than going on a diet.
For more, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces or, for help and resources for holding an event, email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Autumnwatch begins on BBC2 on Monday, October 27, for two weeks. See http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/autumnwatch
