In this post, you’ll learn why and how to easily start your own nature journal and use it to increase your knowledge and strengthen your connection with the natural world around you.
Anytime is a good time to start a nature journal!
January is a time for beginnings, but no matter when you’re reading this, starting a nature journal will begin a journey of discovery, fun, and learning that will enrich your life immeasurably. Here’s a baker’s dozen of great reasons to start one. I’ll include some suggestions about what to put in your journal and discuss some different types of journals. Find one that calls to you and get started today!
- You’ll preserve fond memories of things you’ve seen and create a future source of pleasure. When you peruse your old journal entries, you’ll remember what inspired them.
- You’ll become more observant and more open to discovery.
- You’ll become more appreciative of nature’s beauty and complexity.
- You’ll spot trends that you might not have noticed otherwise (e.g., when the first robins appear in the spring, changes in temperature ranges, changes in rainfall, the frequency of the appearance of certain birds or animals).
- You’ll begin to see patterns in behaviors, colors, sounds, and smells.
- You’ll be able to talk to your nature-savvy friends more intelligently.
- You’ll be inspired to look things up to expand your understanding and appreciation for what you’ve observed.
- You will deepen your relationship with the earth and begin to care even more deeply for it than you do now.
- You will more fully appreciate others who observe and write about nature and better understand their enthusiasms for nature and concerns about environmental issues.
- You’ll increase your sense of connection with all living things.
- You’ll find your spiritual life is enhanced through an increased appreciation for God’s creations and a shift from egocentric thinking to realizing we are part of a wonderful whole.
- Strengthening your connection with nature through a nature journal is both restful and restorative.
- You’ll learn more about yourself by noticing what things you find especially beautiful, interesting, or inspiring.
What do I put in a nature journal?
Include anything about your day-to-day encounters with the natural world! Some people make notes. Others write sentences and narrative descriptions. Still, others only sketch or use some combination of writing and sketching. If you’re a photographer, you may prefer to use annotated photos.
- Jot down observations about what’s in bloom in your yard or your walk to work.
- Start a master list of birds, animals, and plants commonly found in your area.
- Record seasonal changes such as which trees start to show green leaves first in the spring or which ones turn colors first in the fall.
- Make a note when you get a glimpse of that family of foxes under your garage.
- Chronicle the visit from a hungry bear to your bird feeder.
- Preserve for posterity the day you saw the bald eagle overhead.
- Write about the day you took your grandchild on her first fishing trip.
- If you’re a gardener (even a container gardener on an apartment balcony), make notes about what you plant, when you plant it, and how well it grows.
- Jot down questions in your journal. Visit your regional arboretum or local garden center with your journal in hand and get answers from the naturalists who work there.
- When you travel, keep a list of bird and animal species you see and note which ones are different than you have at home.
I’ll have future posts with tips to maximize your nature journaling experience. Use the sidebar search box to find all entries for “nature journal.”
What kind of journal should I use?
You want something that’s easy to carry, somewhat durable, and appeals to the naturalist in you. Some folks are content with a spiral notebook or an all-purpose journal.
Others take their notes on plain paper or index cards and bring them home to file in a box, folder, or spiral notebook. My father used to use a small desk calendar/date book and make his entries about weather, temperature, and wildlife observations on the appropriate day.
I prefer a journal designed to be a nature journal with ideas and prompts. One I love to use HERE was designed by naturalist/artist Clare Walker Leslie…and its companion book, Keeping a Nature Journal:
Where can I get more ideas?
Read the writings of other nature writers for inspiration, and you’ll begin to see the kinds of things they noticed and wrote about. The best include: Edward Abbey, Diane Ackerman, Mary Austin, William Bartram, John Burroughs, Rachel Carson, Annie Dillard, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Meriwether Lewis, Barry Lopez, Bill McKibben, John Muir, John Wesley Powell, Gary Snyder, and Henry David Thoreau.
What are you waiting for?
Order one of the journals above today and start your nature journal. Don’t wait until it arrives to start noticing the amazing natural world around you. I want to hear from you this time next year and see how you’re enjoying your stronger connection with nature.
Photo credit: “Young Woman in Woods” by PT Images via BigStockPhoto.com
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Are you freezing in the midst of a spiritual winter?
Thanks for this blog, Elizabeth. It made me aware that this is one way I use photography already, although I’d never thought of it quite that way before. I know people who won’t travel with a camera because they say that taking pictures interferes with their ability to really see what’s around them. For me it’s just the opposite. For me, having a camera helps me focus more on my surroundings. Looking for vistas, close-ups, and patterns, and then composing my shots, helps me to concentrate more on what I’m looking at and to actually notice more than I think I would otherwise, including such things as how the light is falling. And whether I’m capturing a vast landscape from a mountain top, experimenting with shutter speed to make a waterfall crisp or blurred, silently waiting for that perfect shot of wildlife, or zeroing in on the wood grain pattern in a tree root, I am, in fact, keeping a journal of my experiences in nature. And I have done just as you suggest in using the photos to learn more. Just last fall, while I was photographing egrets in a coastal Georgia marsh, a flock of birds I was unfamiliar with took flight. The pictures I took helped me identify them later as wood storks.
Beth, thank you SO much for this wonderfully detailed and helpful description of your experience connecting with nature through the lens of a camera. I can totally see how satisfying this must be for you, and I know I have enjoyed your travels vicariously through your exquisite photos. Feel free to share links to any of them that seem relevant to this or other posts. Note to other readers: Beth has won prizes for her excellent photography!
Good morning Elizabeth! Living here on the farm really connects us with nature and especially the animal kingdom!
I just finished a class at John C Campbell Folk School in drawing natural objects. The teacher was Redenta Soprano, a botanical illustrator from whom I have taken three classes in the past. This class focused more on patterns in nature and how all patterns in nature, including those in our own bodies, follow fibonacci numbers and spacing. To think that we look at the beautiful branching on a winter tree through the retinas in our eyes that have that same branching pattern does lead one to realize that nature, and we, are not random creations. The close-up drawing I did all week of objects gave me even more appreciation of nature and its wonder and complexity.
Lately, I do keep looking at the branching of trees which we can only see in the dead of winter…..they look like amazing pen-and-ink drawings on the sky! But I’m looking forward to a trip to Key West where I will draw FLOWERS! xoxo
Vicky, yes you and I are both so fortunate to live in beautiful rural areas and have the opportunity to experience nature “close up and personal.” With more and more people living in more densely populated areas, I want people to realize they should make an intentional effort to stay connected with nature…it’s critical to physical and spiritual health!
Your drawing class sounds phenomenal, and I’m sure it’s making you an even more keen observer of nature than you were before. Please share some of your sketches when you get back from Key West.
Safe travels!
What an amazing idea! I take so many nature photos and go through those, but it would be so cool to write down some “tidbits” about it in a photo journal for even more inspiration. Thanks! ~Janet~
Oh, I do hope this will enhance your pleasure from your photos, Janet. My good friend Beth Grosvenor Boland, a wonderful amateur photographer, had a similar response to yours.
What a lovely idea! And I can especially appreciate a simple index card with a pen or pencil on a walk. I don’t get much outside time during the winter (I’m in North Dakota!), but I could try to employ this practice once or twice a week. Spring and summer are much better here, and much anticipated. I think someone is trying to tell me something – I read a post today over at Kathryn Magendie’s page about exercise – walking.
I hear more and more people going back to the old faithful index cards for a variety of purposes. While I would never discourage anyone from getting more exercise, remember that a nature journal can include observations made through a window! I’d love to hear more about observing nature in those colder climes such as where you live, Karen.