It’s not the Serengeti

By Dr Tony Whitbread, Chief Executive, Sussex Wildlife Trust

I saw a common spotted orchid in my lawn this morning.I didn’t know it was there, it is only visible because of my laziness with the lawn mower.

When I took the time to look a little closer I could see many other things I’d never taken the trouble to notice before.Obviously there were dandelions and daisies, but also three or four species of grass, small plants like, white clover, black medick and the wonderfully-named ‘mouse-ear’.

OK, so it’s not the Serengeti, I did not roam through uncharted wildernesses or battle untamed jungles.But I did not plant these flowers, they got there by themselves, they are my little piece of the wild.

Sussex Wildlife Trust is promoting a “30 Days Wild” campaign at the moment - a challenge for everyone to do something wild, however small, every day throughout June.

In my mind, however, the first thing is to just notice.There are thousands of species around you, all living to their own rules and all forming the environment on which you depend.Even nature enthusiasts don’t know most of them and almost everyone overlooks them.But allow yourself a random act of wildness today and just notice them – like I did because of my random act of lawn laziness!