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The Armchair Mountaineer

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Wilderness & Wellbeing BLOG

My name is Tom Smallwood and here you will find my posts and those of guests, on the positive effects of time spent outdoors.

hedgehog 30 days wild nature wildlife mental health

30 Days Wild: Suburban Springwatch

June 19, 2019

One thing I decided to do this year was leave one corner of the garden wild. I don’t know how long it will last as pressure builds from within the family to “do something” with that corner but while it does last it has had a positive effect in terms of wildlife. 

Perhaps the best aspect of this experiment is the fact that every night around 9pm we have a fat hedgehog who comes through our front gate, wanders through the garden to this unkempt patch of land and roots around for a couple of hours before waddling off to check out what the neighbours have to offer. 

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature
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30 Days Wild: Switch off with Nature

May 21, 2019

We are just a few days away from June and the start of 30 Days Wild; the Wildlife Trusts amazing initiative to get people outside, enjoying and appreciating nature.

This year, as part of 30 Days Wild I will be focussing on how nature can help alleviate the stresses and strains of work and how to get more of it into the working day.

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Tags Mental Health, Nature, 30 Days Wild
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The outdoors is guilt free pleasure

February 19, 2019

Doing nothing often brings on feelings of guilt. But it is essential to find a way to quiet your mind and doing nothing can be a the best way.

And, As it happens, going outdoors is the best kind of nothing… cos, you know, it’s not nothing.

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Tags Nature, Mental Health
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Children outdoors: Time to listen and speak.

February 4, 2019

When do you give your children the time to speak, the time to formulate a thought or give an answer with the time to get it wrong and start again? No clocks, no homework, no digital distractions, no rushing.

When, as a matter of fact, do you spend 2 hours talking to your children? I mean, no distractions, just you chit-chatting about this and that, without telling them what to do.

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Tags Children Outdoors, Nature, Hiking
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autumn winter summer spring seasons hiking walking

A Seasonal Timepiece: Guest Blog by Vicky Hunter

September 3, 2018

Nature’s gentle yet uncompromising movement is so deeply rooted in our existence and yet so often it is overlooked.

We lock ourselves up in brick houses, with concrete gardens, eating whatever we want, whenever we want from giant supermarket chains, and we lose touch with nature’s subliminary indicators of time. Sure, shop window displays, social media and the occasional bank holiday weekend help us tap into the yearly calendar, but with Easter eggs hitting the shops not long after New Year and Christmas advertising appearing before Halloween, our awareness of the passing of time becomes completely out of sync with nature’s clock.

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Tags Nature
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30 days wild 2018

30 Days Wild: Random Acts of Wildness

May 21, 2018

A few weeks ago I gave an assembly at my daughter’s school. On a few occasions I have spoken to rooms full of journalists and at conferences but nothing made me as nervous as a room full of primary school children. 

What if I didn’t know the answer to their questions? Fortunately I was giving an assembly about 30 Days Wild and, fortunately, I was joined by Liz Carney from The Wildlife Trusts who did have all the answers to the children’s questions

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature
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30 das wild d is for dragons

21 Days Wild - D is for Damsels & Dragons

June 21, 2017

I was always under the impression that damsels are the skinny ones and dragonflies the heavier set flying machines. I don't know where I picked this information up - probably from my parents - but I passed it onto my daughter.

Anyway, after she asked me I thought it wise to check up and discovered that I was (kind of) right. But up until recently I didn't know my chasers from my hawkers...

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature
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19 Days Wild - J is for Juvenile

19 Days Wild - J is of Juvenile

June 19, 2017

Long-tailed tits were the first I noticed nesting, but the magpies soon put paid to their attempts at raising a family. The blackbirds were successful and starlings too in neighbouring trees. Robins made a home at the third attempt in our carport and now we have a wood pigeon sitting on two eggs, in the vine, just above the back door... but what do you do with an abandoned juvenile?

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature
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18 Days Wild - Z is for Zoology

June 18, 2017

There is just about any natural creature you could desire to learn about in this museum but we limited ourselves to a handful of different areas - no sense in trying to the whole thing in my opinion, at least not with small children. Emma was largely interested in creepy crawlies (green zone) and the earthquake experience in the Kobe supermarket...

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature
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30 days wild L is for Ladybird

15 Days Wild - L is for Ladybird [video]

June 15, 2017

It's the half way point in June and we are still going strong. After yesterday's slacking, we were back outside today in the searing Cambridgeshire heat, Making a totally original TV show. 

WATCH THE VIDEO!

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature
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30 days wild A is for Ant

13 Days Wild - A is for Ant

June 13, 2017

A few weeks ago we noticed quite a few black ants roaming around the house. Having resisted the urge to start wiping them out I am glad to say that, as the weather has improved, they seem to have disappeared. But where did they go? 

I am afraid that we robbed them of one habitat last year when we had the patio relaid and removed and old mat from in front of the French windows. So today Emma and I went in search of these creepy crawlies elsewhere in the garden...

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature
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12 Days Wild - X is for 'Xtinct

June 12, 2017

Well, I mean, what did you think we were going to do for "X"? I don't have a xylophone or an x-ray machine!

For the second day in a row we decided to make a bee census in the garden. And a sorry site it was, again. Below is all we have seen, including one recently 'xpired bumblebee...

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature
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30 days wild e is for earthworm

11 Days Wild - E is for Earthworm [video]

June 11, 2017

Day 11 of 30 Days Wild was a highly academic affair. It saw us planting some flowers with the express intention of trying to attract more bees. In fact our random act of wildness today was going to be all about bees, but we only saw one... which in itself may be indicative of something.

So instead we rooted around in the dirt as Emma was dying to show off her worm-handling skills...

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature
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30 days wild t is for trees

9 Days Wild - T is for Trees

June 10, 2017

Friday afternoon. The end of the week also usually coincides with the end of Emma’s tether. She is spent after a week of school and a week of full-throttle excitement and competitive chit-chat with equally excited friends.

Friday nights frequently have moments of tears as this tiredness spills into a sort of emotional release accentuated by the diminished energy levels. 

Sulkily she sat in the back seat of the car. The weekend really never comes too soon! It was with some trepidation that I whisked her off, straight from the school run, to the woods for a walk...  

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature
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30 Day Wild B is for Butterfly

8 Days Wild - B is for Butterfly

June 8, 2017

Up until a few weeks ago I had never heard of Maria Sibylla Merian. I suspect many haven't, but thanks to "Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls"; a book we recently bought for our daughter, she is now a well known name in the family and Emma's bed time story for 8 Days Wild...

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature, Women
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30 days wild r is for robin

7 Days Wild - R is for Robin

June 7, 2017

Our resident robins flew the nest today. I spotted one little chick on the road after I reversed my car and saw that it had been sheltering underneath it. A close shave!

Mr and Mrs robin have been fretting all evening, catching food and flying to the nest (possibly as a decoy flight for any predators) and then off to find their littluns amongst the shrubs or hiding behind a plant pot in the neighbour's garden...

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature
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5 Days Wild - S is for Snake

June 5, 2017

Having failed to spot any on yesterday's mini-adventure (P is for Paddling) we popped down to Godmanchester Nature Reserve after school today to have a root around and see if we could find some snakes.

Its been a chillier day today so I hoped the warmth of the mats they like to lie under would mean that one or two were there. We were in luck. Emma was delighted to see a small grass snake, which wasn't all that delighted to see us so after a quick picture, we left it alone.

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature
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3 Days Wild - W is for Waste [Video]

June 3, 2017

5 simple Ways to reduce the amount of plastic waste

Start by taking out your kids into a wild space and help to clean it up. Do so now, before they grow up cynical and have to search for self-serving reasons to pick up other people's litter. Today on the third day of 30 Days Wild Emma and I filled two plastic bags of rubbish during a 25 minute stroll...

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature, Environment, Plastic
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2 Days Wild - M is for Mini-Beasts

June 2, 2017

The beauty of spending time outside in nature, whether on a grand scale or in your own backyard is that it throws up an endless supply of interesting things to look at, think about and learn about. It is also often the case that you go out with intention of doing one thing and you end up doing another and it was no different this afternoon. We went out in search of mini-beasts and ended up sitting and watching baby blackbirds flapping about clumsily and attempting to hide from us in the bushes. We also heard, for the first time, the tiny tell-tale squeaks from the robin's nest behind the light in the car port... but more on that another day...

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature
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1 Day Wild - Wild Brainstorming [video]

June 1, 2017

Hello. Quick introduction here; my name is Tom, and this is Emma.

We are in the Lake District for a couple of nights on a 30 Days Wild brainstorming session. Today we have been rowing on Lake Grasmere, watching the Canada geese grazing in the valley and yesterday, whilst having a mini "wild" swim in the lake we were joined by a mallard and her ducklings which you can see in the video below (thank you to mummy for that shot).

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Tags 30 Days Wild, Nature
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