How to keep a nature diary

Video: NATURE JOURNAL BASICS FOR BEGINNERS - PART 1

Content

Steps
Tips
What do you need

"Most people are in the world, not in the world; they have no conscious attachment or relationship to anything that concerns them," wrote John Muir, ecologist, scientist, traveler and founder of the Sierra Club. Unfortunately, today his statement is even more truthful than in those distant times.How can we interact with the environment in modern society? How can we become more grateful to nature? There is only one way out for us - to follow the example of Muir, John James Audubon and other famous writers and artists - to keep a nature diary. Like a personal diary or diary, a nature journal is a place to record our observations and reactions to them, but unlike a diary, a nature journal is specifically designed to record our research and thoughts about nature. Start keeping a nature journal and you may end up learning a lot about nature and yourself.

Steps

1 Decide what kind of nature magazine you want to keep. You can use the magazine on many occasions depending on your own preferences and the natural environment around you. And it's a good idea to think about what kind of magazine you want to make, so you can end up with an appropriately sized book with the materials you need. Some ideas on how to approach starting your own nature journal include:
- Just record all of your nature excursions. Write everything you see, feel and notice; add as many photos as you like.
- Create a nature journal for a specific location (for example, a river, park, or your yard) or for living things (such as red trees, monkeys, cockroaches).
- Create a nature journal to chronicle the events of one particular trip.
- There are also a number of journals that are commonly used for more specific purposes, such as Grinnell and phenology journals (see the Tips section below).
2 Make or buy a suitable notebook. Most nature magazines have overlays or notebooks made of plain white paper. Lined paper usually interferes with drawing, but it may be suitable for other purposes, you can find notebooks with separation on each page from plain paper and pages in line. Alternatively, you can insert blank sheets into a finished binding, or buy a rug (or a specially made magazine) that is already bound into the cover. Since you will be adding various items to your journal, you must make sure that it is durable and secure. While some sheets may be waterproof, others need protection with a book cover or cellophane cover.
- Choose sturdy, high quality paper if you can afford it. Even if you can't buy good paper, make sure the pages are good quality bookbound or spiral bound.
- Look for a notebook with an interesting and high-quality cover, or make your own cover to protect your magazine's content.
- Consider any nuances. Perhaps any old notebook will do for this, but think it over again.
- For example, if you want to do very large sketches, make sure your journal is large enough, but if your backpack doesn't have enough space, keep a small notebook.
- If you would like to include watercolor drawings, buy special sheets. If you are going to insert photographs or souvenirs into your magazine, try to find archival paper.
- If you are going somewhere that is very humid, you might want to bring a waterproof cover with you.
3 Grab additional tools that will come in handy. You don't need a lot of tools to keep a nature diary. A notebook and pencil will be just what you need if you are only going to take notes and do sketches. If you want to add more colorful drawings, use either crayons and pencils, or even a watercolor set. If you are going to add photos or found items to your magazine, prepare special glue or inserts for storing photos. If you have a lot of additional tools, you can adapt a special case or folder for storage.Again, just think about your desires, match against a budget, and have everything you need to prepare for journaling.
4 Take some time. It can be difficult to set aside time for journaling or any kind of diary, and a nature journal is no exception. You can adjust the timing depending on your diary plan. Maybe you just want to take a day out on the weekend, or keep your journal on a backpacking trip. If you are conducting it in a specific location, you will most likely need to take notes at least once a day. Whatever you do, make sure you are actually using your magazine correctly.
- Keep the journal in an easily accessible place. This will push you to fill it up more often, especially if it's always in front of your eyes.
5 Pay attention to the world around you. The purpose of creating a nature journal is not so much for writing and drawing as for observation. Regardless of where you live, you can observe nature in one form or another. Come out and watch. Sit in silence or take a walk, look around, or examine an item of your choice. Don't worry about writing or drawing at all; just contemplate carefully.
6 Describe the area. A journal becomes most valuable if you use it in the field, write down your observations the way you see it. If you rely on your memory to write everything in your diary later, there is a threat that your journal will be less accurate and not be able to accurately reflect the atmosphere of a particular place.
- Add your nature journal to your travel, camping, holiday, and more to-do list. That way, you will most likely remember to take it with you to new places.
7 Begin each entry with a description of the location, date, and time. As with any diary, you want to know exactly when and where you were and when you wrote each entry when you look at the nature journal later. If your journal is for scientific purposes, you have to be very specific, you will need to include additional information, such as specifics of weather conditions.
8 Supplement your observations with pictures or pictures. Many people consider themselves to be bad artists, and you may be one of them. It doesn't matter what your current artistic ability is, you should at least try to sketch some of the plants, animals, or events that you observe. It is worth noting that drawing (or trying to draw), the precise execution of something, helps you think much deeper than you see things on the surface. For example, start drawing a plant, and in the process, you naturally notice the shapes of the leaves, the differences between the leaves, the versatility of the flowers, and other details that you didn’t notice before. Thus, drawing well is not the main thing. Drawing just helps you observe more closely. Of course, if you are recording your observations for scientific research or to identify plant species when you get home, the quality of the drawing will play a big role. Luckily, your drawings will get better and better with time and experience, so don't give up.
- Take pictures. If you just can't bring yourself to paint, photograph the subject. Even if you are a great artist, sometimes you can add photos to your magazine. Photography can be rewarding, creative, and sometimes absolutely necessary, but be sure to try at least a few drawings. If you are going to take pictures, be sure to leave some space in your magazine to insert later.
9 Write about what you see. The content and the way you write should be consistent with the purpose of your journal, but in general, given the purpose of a nature journal, you can write about anything.
- Describe everything. Try to forget everything you knew before about the item you are seeing and write about it as if you are seeing the item for the first time.Be so detailed in the description that in 100 years another person can pick up the magazine and imagine the bird you wrote about and study it in detail, even if these birds no longer exist. It may sound silly, but keep in mind that old nature magazines give us an idea of some of the animals that have become extinct in the last two centuries. You might want to describe one particular plant in detail, or just characterize the environment. Try to understand basic concepts like the weather and the environment you are in, and then you can write about anything that interests you.
- Write what you feel. If you feel in seventh heaven, on a mountain top, or calmly watching a bee on a flower, immediately reflect this in a journal. Nature Diary gives you the opportunity to react to the natural world, and writing an answer can help you understand who you are - and maybe even find your place in the universe.
- Don't be held back by censorship; do not change the course of your thoughts. Just let your thoughts flow freely onto the paper.
- Choose your own style. You can develop a single style for each entry in your diary, or you can just write and draw randomly in any order, depending on what you feel is necessary for yourself at the moment. Only you can choose how to write and what the structure of your journal will be (even if it is work for school or for specific purposes). Some people like to keep their notes as if they wrote a letter to a friend or to themselves. Others like to include poems and short stories in the magazine. Just write.
10 Find out more about what you saw. The magazine can be a catalyst for learning. After you've gone out and learned something new about nature, return home or go to the library and read more about what you've seen, especially if you're interested in something specific or if you have unanswered questions. For example, you might see an unfamiliar plant. Armed with your sketch and description of the plant, you can explore it by returning to "civilization". Use your journal to write down any questions - what did this bird do when it moved its head up and down? Why is the grass on one side of the hill so much shorter? Try to find answers to these questions.
- If you keep a journal about a specific living organism or ecosystem, it will be useful for you to do as much research as possible before you go out into the area of interest.
11 Review your recent posts. Sometimes you want to refer to past journal entries for specific purposes. Perhaps you want to mentally return to a specific moment in your life, or maybe you need some kind of comparisons of your observations for a scientific report. Either way, reading your nature magazine can be an incredibly rewarding experience, and it can be a lot of fun. You can relive the events of days gone by just by flipping through the pages, or you may notice how your views and styles have changed over time.

Tips

Some nature journalists discourage "virtual journals" created on electronic devices. After all, it looks odd to try to reconnect with nature using a laptop while staring at the screen. It is also strange, for example, to hope to increase the population of trees by writing about it on paper made from wood. With today's advances in portable laptops, iPads and eReaders, there are virtually no technical barriers to nature journaling on electronic devices. If you want to get a sketch of an item, you need to scan it from your notebook, but if you are not good at drawing, you can download digital photos very easily. Typically, digital images are scanned more often.In this case, you cannot, for example, insert a fallen leaf, and you may also find that the format of the picture does not fit into your nature journal. The choice is yours, and of course, there is nothing wrong with using a computer, especially if you have clumsy handwriting and do not like to draw.
Think carefully about the size of your magazine. On the one hand, it should be large enough for your purposes. After all, you don't want blank sheets of paper to run out at the most inopportune moment. On the other hand, the magazine should be compact enough. If you're going for a long-distance hike, you don't want to pull more weight than you need to. If you just want to monitor your yard, size won't matter, but the further you get from home, the more important it gets.
Nature magazines are a fantastic tool for engaging children in developing knowledge and a sense of interest. Awaken interest in science and art, develop writing skills and instill an understanding of nature by helping your child create their own nature diary or by teaching kids to make journals at school.
Your journal doesn't have to be "perfect". If it contains crossed out words and bad or unfinished drawings, that's fine. Indeed, if there are no flaws in your journal, you should think about how much you restrained yourself in the texts and drawings. Magazines give you the opportunity to be spontaneous, let your thoughts flow naturally as you melt into the subject. Of course, you should be able to read at least most of what you've written, but don't let neatness get in the way of creating a magazine.
Not only are nature journals a great way to get in touch with nature, they are also still used by scientists and researchers today for more "practical" purposes. Scientists keep "area diaries" to keep track of the consistency of research, and many biology students still learn from journals such as Grinnell Journals, which follow a specific form. Phenology journals, which record diurnal and seasonal changes and their effects on plants and animals, are widely used by scientists in the field, as well as gardeners and botanical garden owners.
Some journalists add various found items to the recordings, such as leaves and feathers. Others are rubbing magazines. All of these can breathe life into your diary, but don't take life by cutting off living plants or disturbing flora or animals.
A nature diary is a very personal tool, but it can also be a great gift for children or grandchildren who have the opportunity to learn more about you and the world around them before they are born. Some journalists publish their versions of the diaries with great success.
If you find it difficult to decide which way to go when creating such a diary, check out some examples of the most famous nature journals. You can browse the Internet or visit the library to find passages and entire journals from renowned authors such as John Muir, John James Audubon, William Heli-Dell, or Maryweather Lavis.