Nudging: Take a guided nature hike

By Lisa Manterfield, Guest Nudger

Greetings, Nudger! This week author Lisa Manterfield is inspiring us with her own nudge. I’m lacing up the hiking boots and grabbing the binoculars to do my version of this. What might you do to get outside and enjoy some natural beauty? — Kathleen

I’ve always been a nature lover. As a child growing up in northern England, I learned how to identify birds using my Spotter’s Guide to Birds. [Note: This series of guidebooks, published by Usborne, can be hard to find. Try your local used bookshop.] With this pocket-sized book, and the help of my patient parents, I learned how to listen for bird song, and use markings, habitat, and behavior patterns to identify birds. On one summer trip, I was given a Spotter’s Guide to Wild Flowers, and spent many happy days hunting for flowers and tracking them on the handy checklist. The book even had a points system, and I was so proud to find an unusual (although not rare) 25-point flower that summer. So many good memories.

But then I moved to the other side of the world (California) and a whole new variety of birds and flowers. I lost the ability to identify species because they were so different, and I’ve been meaning to take a local guided nature hike to start learning my local flora and fauna again.

Enter my nudge….