NLWA Connecting with nature

This 2 minute video introduces the five pathways we can take to connect more deeply with Nature.

Task 1: Find a sit-spot and rest
Find a place in nature where you can sit or rest, whether in a garden, park, wild place, or outside near a tree. It should be somewhere you can be comfortable and undisturbed. Sit in this space for ten minutes quietly without looking at your phone, perhaps with your eyes closed.

Use this time to explore the space with senses you might not normally use to pay attention to your surroundings: listening, smelling, and feeling textures.
Press next when your 10-15 mins in your sit-spot are up, you can spend longer doing this if you want to!

What did you hear? Were there any sounds that surprised you?
What could you distinguish clearly and what was hard to make out?
What did you smell? Were there any smells that surprised you?
If there were smells you can't name, describe them in what they are 'like' or how you felt about them
What did you feel? Were there any sensations that surprised you?
This could be in terms of textures, changes in temperature, directionality
What can you sense close to you and far away?
Could you track the movement of plants, animals or weather through space

Task 2: Now pay attention by looking. Examine the leaves, bark, branches, seeds, roots of your nearest tree.

Spend 5 minutes carefully looking around you
Do you know what type of tree it is?
What type of tree do you think it is?
Below are photos of tree leaves of common UK leaves.
After looking at a leaf of your nearest tree, describe the shape of its outline, contours, colours, textures, patterns of veins. Share your observations or thoughts.

Above is a list of describing different features of a leaf in botanical science - for example a leaf 'margin' (its edges) can be toothed or pointed. Are there any features (like veins, shapes, edges) that you hadn't considering in your previous leaf description?
Is there anything unusual near your tree you’ve spotted that you don’t know what it is? Describe it below

About galls - natural growths on trees and leaves

Spotted something unusual that you couldn't name? Autumn is a good time for spotting galls.
That mysterious thing that's not a rock and not bark may be a ‘gall’. A gall is a growth on a plant made of plant tissue but caused by another organism.

Insects, bacteria, fungi or viruses can all create galls. Insect galls are the most common; an estimated 133,000 insect species in the world can create galls. As you’ll see in the examples below, galls vary in size and shape; nature is very creative!

All galls are formed to assist the insect, bacteria, fungi or virus creating the gall in some way. In ecological terms, it’s a parasitic relationship. The “gall causer” manipulates the plant tissue for itself, but the plant receives no benefits in exchange.

However, most galls don’t harm the plant and have no effect on the health of the host tree, and they're perfectly natural!
Below are photos of tree leaves of common UK leaves.

Task 3: Observing the interstitial

Now pay close attention to hidden nooks and crannies; “interstitial” is a word that means in-between in small spaces.
Look again at the leaves, bark, branches, roots, soil, or lichen near you in detail, or birds or insects that cross the ground, branches, roots or soil. Look under leaves or rocks nearby.
Have you noticed something by looking carefully in hidden spots that you hadn't seen before?
Can you spot anything that isn’t supposed there? If so, what?
If you spotted some litter, would you consider picking it up to throw away in a bin? Why or why not?

Task 4: Share a bit more about your time in nature today
Tell us three ‘good’ things that you’ve noticed outdoors today – it can be ‘good’ because you like the way it looks, sounds or smells, because it’s surprised you, or because of the way it makes you feel.
The first thing
The second thing
The third thing
We’d love for you share photos or audio clips of the things you’ve just described.
Any camera is a good camera to capture nature, even on your mobile phone. Take some time to find different angles and lighting. You can take distant shots, for example of the sky, or try close ups.
File Upload

Cancelof

Thank you, you have now completed the nature connectedness activity 'Watching Trees'
We hope you enjoyed the activity and would love feedback on it. You can contact us at wastepreventionteam@nlwa.gov.uk with your comments.
Should be Empty:

Watching Trees - Online Nature Session