Get to know nature (even) better Find out about your surroundings

By spending time in mother nature, you can learn a lot about plants and animals simply by observing and exper­i­encing them. But it is even more fun when you know who or what you’re looking at. Then, you don’t just see a flower or a bird, but rather a wood anemone and a treecreeper. You might even know that treecreeper only climbs the tree in an upwards direction, spiralling around the trunk as it ascends, while a nuthatch flits headfirst both upwards and downwards. And you don’t neces­sarily have to read a “dull” nature guide for this: nowadays, there are so many great podcasts and social media channels that cover a wide variety of nature topics. And with apps, you can identify plants or bird songs on the spot, often quite accurately, while you are out and about. If you do this at least once in a while – for example, by finding out about one bird or one flower on each walk – you can learn about nature bit by bit and in passing, without turning it into a complicated science.