Wild and Free

By Kerry Williams

Communications Officer - Conservation

Urgh, January. Exercise and weather. Did you, like me, celebrate the festive period with cheer and are now clinging on to the twinkly afterglow of a merrier, piggier time? As that sparkle fades to a glimmer, don’t give in to that looming January chasm of grey-blue doom. Instead, focus on the new. Think of Month 01 as a springboard for all the things that await you this 2025. There are plenty of things to do out in nature this January, and better still, they won't cost you a penny.

I, for one, am looking forward to spotting Fieldfares and Redwings delicately tweezing berries from treetops. Huddling on the pier, amid ghost train squeals and the smell of sweet doughnuts, to watch Starlings sky-dance. Drops of snow and Snowdrops. Chilly stomps up the Downs on roaring fire Sundays.

From now on, the days ever so slowly get longer again, giving more precious minutes to get out there and explore. Last year I visited Ebernoe for the first time, searching for fungi in early autumn. I look forward to heading back to experience its Old-England-come-fairy-whimsy in the crunching frost. I’ll head back to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve to hole up in hides, be-gloved and binoculared, to spot winter waders and hovering Marsh Harriers.

I will search for paw and hoof prints in snow if we get it or in the mud otherwise. I’ll be vigilant for too-witting and wooing Tawny Owls and scan darkened woodlands to see one; I never seem to succeed, but maybe this is my year.

Whatever you choose to do with this often-condemned-as-miserable month, I hope it instead brings you joy. Let your only January blues be that of the sea and sky. Here’s to 2025!