When I think of June, two things used to spring to mind: the smell of freshly cut grass and drifts of honeysuckle scent on warm summer thermals swirling along the hedgerows on a dusky evening dog walk. 

These days, while we’re discouraging people from cutting their grass too much (to help insects), a third thought comes to mind, it’s 30 Days Wild. June is the month when we human beings are encouraged by The Wildlife Trusts to take extra special notice of our interaction with nature!

Last year, an amazing half a million people took part in The Wildlife Trusts' 30 Days Wild initiative across the UK. We saw more schools, businesses and care homes particularly getting involved. Brilliant.

I never want to go to bed in summer, there’s just too much going on outside. From the garden, up the lane to open fields and across to woodlands, there’s life of every description crawling, flying; a sly fox on the prowl, the call of a skylark, busy blackbirds feeding their young and sometimes the occasional glimpse of a barn owl gliding down the field margins on the hunt for supper. This is the world we share but do we notice it enough?

I know I’m lucky, don’t get me wrong, having access to nature where others don’t. Having grown up in the countryside and later on the urban fringes of Hereford, nature was part of my everyday life. We played, cried and everything in it in those angsty teenage years. And today, as grown up as I am, I can sort the world out, it seems, in just a 20-minute walk.

Being a child of the 70s was different to growing up today, or so I think. My generation, today known as Generation X, is recognised as the lost generation, certainly the least parented compared to those before and after. 

My generation are the children of the war babies, often referred to as Baby Boomers from that post-war spike in birth rates. The post-war reconstruction years unleashed massive societal change with an upward trajectory of living standards, the ability to buy a house, and a final salary pension. A very different reality from that of the generations that followed. 

Bottom line, Gen X got lost in all of that change and social climbing. Turfed out of the house at every opportunity, no phones or money and certainly no expectation of returning before dinner.

We roamed the streets and fields freely with stick in hand, stopping to watch butterflies and swallows stuffing themselves on newly emerged insects by the river's edge. We swam in clean rivers and lay in the grass to dry, insects crawling all over, but who cared, we were part of nature.

I often reflect on those times with great fondness and thanks in a way. We had time to notice the world around us, to be absorbed in the rhythms of seasons and heartbeat of nature of all kinds. No mobile phones or social media, just a good old-fashioned chopper bike and, if you were lucky in the 80s, a BMX. We were able to go for miles.

Today the story is a little different. The average roaming distance of a child has reduced to metres not miles and our wildlife abundance and diversity has plummeted.

It’s down to us to notice and to care enough to want a different future for children, one where they can be happy and run free.

Smelling, touching and connecting with nature is so important for our sanity and general wellbeing. Being present, exercising in fresh air and nature-rich spaces is the best form of healthcare on offer when it comes to feeling happier and healthier.

There’s so much that we can do differently around us to help nature, individually and in community groups, from making gardens more wildlife-friendly to improving parks, churchyards and beyond. Local action adds up to a big change.

I wholeheartedly recommend taking time this June to notice nature every day as part of The Wildlife Trusts' 30 Days Wild challenge. See if you feel more connected to the natural world by taking a little time to notice nature every day. It's been scientifically proven to make you feel happier and healthier.

Anyone can take part in 30 Days Wild from individuals and families, schools and groups, to businesses and care homes. I know I'll be one of them again.

Take part