30 Days Wild 2019


Last year we took part in The Wildlife Trust’s #30DaysWild for the first time. We really enjoyed thinking of new ways to get outside and enjoy nature for the month of June, so thought we’d give it another try this year. 

I found this year hard. Most of June was wet, and when the weather improved we were into birthday mode (my children’s birthday’s fall at the end of June and start of July). I decided not to panic. The whole point of #30DaysWild is just to get outside a bit more. We may not have undertaken many huge projects, but we did get outside. I’ve listed everything we did below, and hopefully it will give you some ideas of how to enjoy the outdoors with your family.

Day 1 - We went on a family walk, played with sticks, saw plenty of insects and found a geocache.

insect on hand

geocache in a rock

Day 2 - It was a bit wet so we went on a bug hunt in the garden. Found plenty of worms and slugs.

Garden bug hunt

Day 3 - Picked some flowers from the garden and pressed them in some heavy cook books (sorry Jamie and Mary!).

pressed pansies

Day 4 - The kids weren’t in the best mood today! We opted for nature books at bedtime rather than the usual bedtime stories.

Day 5 - After school painting of what we could see in the garden.

Painting outside
Day 6 - After school we played in the garden barefoot.

Barefoot in the grass

Day 7 - We looked at poppies on the walk to school - looking out for flowers, buds and seed pods.

Red poppies
Day 8 - I have to admit that we didn’t really do anything wild today. We had friends visiting and the weather was a bit rubbish. These things happen.

Day 9 - We talked about the flowers and plants in the garden, and tried to remember their names

Day 10 - Another wet walk to school, but we spotted snails and worms.

Day 11 - We watched some of the Springwatch wildlife cameras

BBC springwatch wildlife cameras
Day 12 - We planted wildflower seeds in the garden.

Day 13 - On the walk to school we spotted some purple poppies amongst the red poppies.. When we came home we researched different varieties of poppies.

Day 14 - Impromptu litter pick! On the walk home from school we noticed that here was a huge amount of litter around so we collected a few bits as we walked. We managed to fill a whole carrier bag. We seperated into waste and recycling when we got home. 

Day 15 - We spotted a large unusual slug. We looked online and discovered that it was a leopard slug.

Day 16 - A walk around the village. Identified plants we spotted on the way.

Day 17 - Climbed a tree stump.

Climbing tree stumps

Day 18 - We watched birds flying around garden from the kitchen window.

Day 19 - We tried out a Forest School session at Blenheim Palace.

Blenheim Palace Forest School
Day 20 - Deadheaded the roses in our front garden.

Day 21 - Plenty of weeding in our flower bed.

Day 22 - Visited Blenheim Palace Flower Show and saw a grasshopper in the garden.

Blenheim Palace Flower Show
Day 23 - Dug out the potatoes we grew and repotted our strawberries that we grew from seed.

Homegrown potatoes
Day 24 - On the school run we “rescued” lots of snails by moving them from the path onto the grass banks lining the roads.

Day 25 - Our bug hotel has been well used, and we found lots of pollen caught on the front of it.

Day 26 - We planted the oxeye daisy seeds we received in our #30DaysWild pack.

Wildflower seeds

Oxeye daisy seed packet
Day 27 - We built a teepee in the garden. You can read more about it here

Kids garden teepee
Day 28 - We did some butterfly spotting on the school run.  We saw Painted Lady, Peacock and some small white ones we didn’t manage to identify. 

Day 29 - Today was such a hot day - and it was my daughter’s birthday party. Not much nature fun, but we spent the party in the garden and made fairies from pegs and fake leaves.

Garden partyNature fairy peg dolls
Day 30 - My daughter made lots of “magic potions” in the garden today. Mostly bicarbonate of soda and distilled vinegar with added food colouring, but she also added plenty of grass and outdoor “ingredients”. 

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#30dayswild 2019


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