Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust expert reflects on the health and wellbeing benefits of the 30 Days Wild in June challenge

When 30 Days Wild, the UK’s biggest nature challenge went live back in June 2015, it aimed to be a mass participation event designed to help people get closer to nature in their daily lives, writes Erin McDaid of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.

The Wildlife Trusts’ challenge had drawn inspiration from a range of initiatives including the One Nature Challenge devised by Canadian environmentalist and broadcaster David Suzuki, and the 100 Happy Days challenge, which was created to encourage participants aiming to be happy a hundred days in a row.

The premise was pretty simple — people were asked to challenge themselves, their family, friends, neighbours and even colleagues to do something ‘wild’ every day in June.

It was conceived and led by a central team at The Wildlife Trusts and promoted and supported by the 46 Wildlife Trusts across the British Isles – including Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust – and created a real sense of togetherness across the federation.

Together we created and collated ideas, prompts and inspiration as to how people could take part, but stressed that there were no hard and fast rules.

People were welcome to come up with their own random acts of wildness suited to the time they had available, their interests, commitments and lifestyle. 30 Days Wild wasn’t about setting a difficult challenge, it was always meant to be flexible, accessible and fun.

As we went live with 30 Days Wild, we could never have foreseen just how the public would take the idea to their hearts.

Over the past four years alone, more than half a million people have taken part, with the challenge becoming a favourite period in many people’s calendars.

As well as being fun and a great way to connect with nature, 30 Days Wild is championed across the UK and around the world by health professionals, psychologists, care workers, campaigners and community leaders.

Last year it was backed by the NHS for the first time, highlighting the health benefits of taking part.

Since we launched back in 2015, there has been real growth in research into the importance nature plays in improving overall health and wellbeing.

We know that access to and a positive relationship with nature is critical for supporting good mental health, as well as underpinning the health of the natural world we all rely on.

A study by the University of Derby monitored the impact of 30 Days Wild between 2015 and 2020. The research found, unsurprisingly, that most people spend the majority of their time indoors and, even when outside, do not interact consciously with nature.

30 Days Wild provided a framework for researchers to explore how engagement and connection with nature was affected by taking part.

We now know that 30 Days Wild increases nature connectedness, increases pro-nature behaviour and boosts the health of participants and fundamentally makes people happier.

The studies showed that the benefits of taking part in the challenge can last well beyond the end of June, and with the 10th iteration of 30 Days Wild now over, I would encourage people to adopt the spirit of the challenge all year round.

Knowing the fun, social and health benefits of connecting with nature, why would we choose to stop because we’re in July?

While it may not be practical to connect with nature every single day year-round, it’s a laudable and beneficial aim, and our focus be on connecting as often as we can.

I certainly appreciate the reminder about the value of connecting with nature that 30 Days Wild provides each year.

I’ve enjoyed making a conscious effort to appreciate the bird song in my garden and to look up at the stars. I have also done things I’ve not done since I was a child, such as collecting freshly moulted feathers and inspecting their detail and form.

So, 10 years in and with a body of evidence proving that nature is good for you, I would urge you to take a leaf out our book — or to pick one up off the ground for a closer look — and find new ways to make space for nature in your daily life.

With the rest of the summer ahead of us and so much to see, hear, touch and smell - you won’t regret it. To read the full report into the 10 years of 30 days Wild visit: wildlifetrusts.org/30-days-wild-ten-years