Welcome back to the next entry in my series on Nature Journaling. If you’d like to learn more about the practice, click on the link above to see previous posts about this practice. Last time, we talked about using labels as part of nature journaling. Today, it’s time to Explore!

E is for Explore

I think one of the most powerful characteristics, regardless of age, is curiosity. Often, when we are children, we are given the freedom to look at the world around us and ask questions (more on those in a future post). But as we grow older, I’ve found we often take less time to explore. It can be easy to follow familiar paths. But even the roads most taken can offer surprises.

The easiest way to explore is to seek out new spaces. Living in the Portland area, I’m constantly learning about parks and other green spaces I’ve not yet explored. When we visit a new location, everything about it is an exploration. New sights, along with possible new sounds, smells, or textures. But these can require additional time and/or money, or a space may not be physically accessible to us.

For many of us, it can be easier to revisit familiar spaces. They may be closer to home. But even places we’ve been to hundreds of times can offer surprises. If you go to the same spot(s), we are more likely to notice the small changes – like a new mushroom breaking through the ground to a new bird song. While waiting for a friend and wandering a nearby trail, I happened upon a green heron preening and hunting, which caught my eye because I was so used to the larger great blues that frequent the area and was able to recognize something new.

Nature journaling has helped me to rediscover this wonder for the spaces I’m in. It gives me a greater appreciation for the spaces I’m in and a chance to see things I might otherwise miss out on. Being able to compare my nature nooks over time with the places I travel to through my nature journal gives me a greater appreciation of both.

Challenge from this post: Take your nature journal and something to draw/write with to a new place near you AND to a place you visit often. Take 15 minutes or more to take in each space. What do you see? What do you hear? Or perhaps smell? Record what you notice in your journal. Add all of the questions that come through your mind as you are present in these spaces – don’t worry about finding the answers!

Happy learning!

– Kirsten, the NW Naturalist