My Year of Nature Journaling

I've just completed my first full year of nature journaling (18th June) so I thought it might be fun to look back on the year, a highlight for every month, and what (if anything) I've learned or how it's changed me...

I nature journal for personal reasons of well-being, relaxation, and interest - because I love nature and I love to draw, so nature journaling gives me an excuse to practice my drawing for a few minutes every day, in a way that doesn't feel like (boring) practice, but instead just like recording some nice parts of my day so that I can look back on in the future and remember them.

I try to practice 'imperfect nature journaling' - that's not worrying about 'doing it properly' or making perfect drawings, instead just doing what makes me happy and what feels right for me, personally.

I find that my year of nature journaling has helped me feel more connected to nature and that helps me feel more relaxed in everyday life too. I think we need nature - we belong as part of nature!

I do feel proud of reaching my one year anniversary of nature journaling...

Yes, I haven't nature journaled every day, but I do try to nature journal most days, and I do think about nature journaling every single day, as I'm always looking for things to nature journal about and thinking about what I'd like to record from my day and my nature experiences...

I think this really helps me to feel more connected with nature - and to feel more mindful, in the sense of feeling present in the moment and physically present in the world.

Sometimes, there's amazing nature experiences that I get to see precisely because I'm paying attention to what's going on around me when I'm out and about - I'm actively looking out for amazingness in nature and so I spot it when it's there!

Sometimes, I think it's a little harder to spot 'amazingness' in nature - and the practice of keeping a nature journal and wanting to have something to journal about helps me to seek that amazingness in nature, perhaps with something so ordinary-looking as a leaf or even a slug!

August

AUGUST - Sleeping slug in my nature journal

This is my August highlight - it was just so sweet to see a little slug curled up on my front door, all asleep and curly and lovely! 

Once you start looking for amazingness in nature with an open and willing mind, you will surely find it!

Somedays, there's so many things I see or experience that I struggle to pick just one. I can't fit everything in!

That does help for the days when I feel like I don't know what to put in - probably because I forgot to look! Older photos, feather collections, house plants, and fruit & veg can all come in handy on those days - or maybe it's just time for a day off!

September

SEPTEMBER - fungi time lapse

My favourite for September is this double-page spread following the development of a toadstool. It was supposed to be a page of different fungi I'd found in the field - but it turns out that the big flat one on the right was actually the older version of the smaller more pointed one on the top left. I decided to follow the growth of this white fungi, and sure enough it turned into the big flat one! Discoveries!

It was fun to do a page over several days and follow up on what I found!

Of course, there's always the matter of time! When I first started my nature journal, it took me longer to create a page...

I was often trying to make a good drawing, and a good page, trying to thoroughly research the topic. That's not necessarily practical for every day life!

I tend to spend around 20 minutes (tops) on a page now, and I fit it into my daily life (usually I nature journal while tea is cooking).

Some days, I'm too busy! Some days, I'm just too tired!

But I do miss it if I go a few days without it, especially if I see something interesting that I want to record in my nature journal so I'll make a special effort to do so.

October

OCTOBER - Northern Lights!!!!

This was probably the nature highlight of my year of nature journaling as well as my month - the Aurora borealis - the Northern Lights - I've wanted to see them for as long as I can remember!

And finally, a wonderful showing, visible to the naked eye too! 

My artwork isn't exactly realistic (to say the least) - but it's a way to connect with the memory - and to fix the memory and provide a prompt so that I can reconnect with that wonderful moment!

There's something about things feeling more real after recording them in my nature journal - the memories become more firm in my head...

And it's a joy to flick through the pages from months ago to revisit and relive my own nature experiences and memories!

November

NOVEMBER - Jay

Seeing a jay is my highlight for November - it's a bird I haven't seen often, and it's the first time I've seen one in 'our' field (where we walk every day). Great memory!

There's different ways of nature journaling for everyone - and whichever way you choose to do it is the right way for you!

December

DECEMBER - Kingfisher!

Seeing this kingfisher is my nature journal highlight for December - a beautiful, iridescent bird that was all the more special for spotting it right in the centre of the city of York! How lucky was that! And it goes to show that nature is not just for the countryside!

Drawing is important for me, personally, when I nature journal - because I love doing it. It started out feeling like I had to do a good and accurate representation of what I saw.

Now, I feel more like I want my drawings to express more of my personal style - and in this way, they feel more like a sort of 'illustration' for the page - perhaps to represent a bird I heard on Merlin Bird App, or to show a scene I saw (birds flying etc.)

But this sort of drawing adds a bit more of 'me' to the page - it makes it feel more personal to me, and so I relate to it more!

January

JANUARY - tree fungi

I did struggle a little in January to find things to journal about in the depths of winter, but this little fungi on a tree stood out to me - I think I liked the patterns it makes!

I feel like my drawing in my nature journal creates an image which is a way to connect with the page, along with the memories, and of course, the feelings that go along with that too - the way I feel connected with nature, which comes back with the memory...

I think it's almost like the way that stained glass windows in churches were used to connect people with Bible stories - or even just in the way that pictures in children's books help to connect children with the story.

February

FEBRUARY - Barn Owl

February's highlight was a lovely barn owl, which we watched as we walked through the field - such a gorgeous bird and although we see them relatively often at certain times of the year, it's always a treat to see them, especially up close.

Over my year of nature journaling, I've found that I do notice more in nature...

And feeling connected to nature helps me to feel more relaxed and more 'in tune' with nature (less fraught by social media and news stories).

I'm more in tune with the physical world out in nature, noticing things like bird song more - and weirdly, even feeling like I can cope better with busy places (like cities).

March

MARCH - round Wood Pigeon

My favourite March nature journal page is this amazing round Wood Pigeon - it's one that lives in my garden so I feel like it's 'mine'. All fluffed out for the cold, this really made me smile!

One of my best discoveries of the year has been Merlin Bird App for identifying bird songs and calls as we walk our dog. Every day we hear birds that, without the app, we would've had no clue were even in the area!

Now we know they're there, and the approximate location they're in, we've even been able to see and identify some of them. Very exciting!

April

APRIL - goldfinch nest!

My highlight for April was definitely the little nest that the goldfinches built right outside my bedroom window! So lucky to get such a good view of this wonder of nature!

I was able to watch momma goldfinch sitting on the eggs, I saw the tiny birds flailing about with their beaks open and how they quickly grew and got feathers and then eventually left the nest to explore the big wide world (see my goldfinch nest diary here for the full story)...

So of course my highlight for May is also the goldfinches - as they fledged - I was so lucky to catch one of them flying away with their parents!

May

MAY - goldfinches fledging!

It did feel particularly special to have nature unfolding right outside our bedroom window - and now we think we see 'our' goldfinches nearby sometimes, too, which feels pretty great!

So, all in all, I've enjoyed my first year of nature journaling! I feel proud to look back through the pages...

While not every page is beautiful, and not every page is exciting, as a whole, it is a wonderful and beautiful record of my nature experiences, my life.

I'll definitely be continuing with another year of nature journaling. I look forward to new experiences, and also revisiting the seasons again this year...

I expect I'll nature journal about some of the same flowers, the same plants, animals and birds - revisiting old ground to remind myself not to take the familiar for granted and perhaps learning to look deeper, learn more, explore further and experience nature in what may be an even more enriching way!

June

JUNE - Barn Owl

My highlight for June, which I picked from this June, not last June, is this gorgeous Barn Owl which we had a close encounter with on an evening dog walk - incredibly, the owl hadn't noticed us and flew right up to use, just a few feet away, before noticing and making an abrupt turn and exit.

Who knows what's to come in my next year of nature journaling! I hope you'll come along with me for the ride, though...

If you've enjoyed these highlights from my nature journal and you'd like to see more, you can see every page, month by month, by using the links on this page (on that page, scroll down until you see the months listed).

You can also find out more about nature journaling here... or learn about mindfulness in nature here...

If you'd like to get started with nature journaling yourself, I have a free 'Getting Started...' guide - find out how to get it here...

You might also like my short PDF course with 20 exercises to give you some ideas and prompts for nature journaling to help you discover what kind(s) of nature journaling you might like to do. You can find that here (it's called 'Imperfect Nature Journaling')!

Online Nature Journaling Course

If you'd like to explore nature journaling more, please consider joining me for my 'Imperfect Nature Journaling' online course - I've called it this to remind us to nature journal for the process of connecting with nature to feel good and not to put pressure on ourselves to create pretty pages which can quickly ruin the fun and the benefits...

It's a series of 20 lessons which are great exercises that you can do in your own nature journal to help you try out different ideas and techniques.

This will help you get the most out of your nature journaling sessions and understand what style of nature journaling is the best for you personally.

If this sounds like something you might like, you can find out more about the course here...

My main nature journaling page is here