THERE IS NOTHING BETTER THAN SPENDING TIME exploring a hedgerow or wild field or woodland. Butterflies, hoverflies, beetles and even the odd frog will show itself. Spending time in nature is vital for health and well-being. Find your nearest nature reserve, park or botanical garden head for whatever is flowering and take your time. It’s good for your mental and physical health to get outside and nature provides a wonderful distraction. Making a one hour walk part of your daily schedule (even on the way to work) will always leave you feeling positive. Think about the time of day to maximise your favourites, early will be full of song birds, mid–day will bring butterflies and other insects, and bats in the evening dusk.

Do everything you can to bring nature into your garden and street and plan your gardening around the rhythms of the seasons. Learning about plants and wildlife and how it relates to farming and the seasons was part of our (old-school) primary school education and protection was a vital factor, we need to find our collective RESPECT toward our ancestral lands and what lives with us. It is worrying to note that in some parts of Europe insect life has fallen up to 70% and the estimated value of services provided by insects is enormous and cannot be easily replaced. We need nature and we really need to love the pollinating insects. A radical rethinking of our food systems and consumption–led lifestyle must happen to help bring about a blooming abundance. It starts with respecting life and re–wilding (as George Monbiot says) space used to feed animals we don’t need to be eating. We have all the information and each need to make informed and conscious choices. The personal and community benefits are worthy of our effort.

IN PICTURES — Dragonflies, bee’s, hoverflies and beautiful butterflies in Norfolk and Costwolds, England.