As time has gone by I have taken more and more joy in not just being in nature but being able to identify what I’m seeing around me. When I head out to walk my dog Orsu I am looking out for the family of buzzards that live up the road and this spring I’ve realised it must be the same song thrush singing its heart out to me from the top of my favourite oak on the way up the hill from my house. Realising they are a family of birds that live in the same landscape as me and my human family somehow helps me connect with them in a stronger way.
Its not just birds that I like I pay attention to, I’m just as inclined to say hello to my favourite trees as I walk past them or look forward to a particular glade of flowers in the woods nearby coming into bloom. I’m already excited about a glade of orchids, bluebells and wood anemones that will be appearing in the coming weeks.
Our blankets and bedding are a way for children to learn to love the nature they can explore within them and we hope it also helps encourage families to explore the wild spaces around them more too.
If you have our Enchanted Forest design for example, maybe you could take your kids to a place you know that owls might live and wait for them to fly overhead at dusk. My children still talk excitedly about the dusk adventures where we have hidden in tussocks of grass to watch barn owls come hunting for mice or crept down through long willow by the river to look for otters in the river. Even if we don’t see the animals or the birds we are searching for, the act of looking can be just as exciting as the actual seeing.
Of course we like to set up our blankets - one underneath, one on top to keep us cosy, maybe with a flask of herbal tea and a little treat whilst we all ssshhhhh each other in turn as we excitedly wait for wildlife.
Whilst your outside enjoying the beautiful hopeful times of spring, this is a little reminder to take inspiriation and take part in our Spring Poetry Competition - deadline 20th April!
