{"id":3198,"date":"2020-08-26T22:06:28","date_gmt":"2020-08-26T21:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.jomec.co.uk\/life360\/?p=3198"},"modified":"2021-02-15T12:07:08","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T12:07:08","slug":"either-you-just-stay-in-the-house-or-you-find-another-reason-to-go-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/either-you-just-stay-in-the-house-or-you-find-another-reason-to-go-out\/","title":{"rendered":"From daily walks to garden birdwatching: how lockdown reconnected the UK with nature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Research suggests we\u2019ve been growing disconnected from the natural world, but the Covid-19 lockdown is turning many of us back to it. What has been so special about nature during this time, and will this relationship continue to flourish after the pandemic?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A morning spent in nature was unheard of for Vicky Charles before the Covid-19 lockdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking was purely for a purpose: getting her steps up to that 10,000 mark on her Fitbit, taking her 8-year-old daughter Samaire to and from school, or popping over to the local supermarket. She used to recoil at the bugs in her garden and couldn\u2019t relate to her 8-year-old daughter Samaire\u2019s desire to go camping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really have a relationship with nature,\u201d says Vicky, a freelance writer from Salisbury.  \u201cWe\u2019ve got a garden, but I didn\u2019t really go out there very much – I just didn\u2019t like it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But since lockdown began, some days the pair walk to a vast nature reserve, or on undiscovered paths around the edge of Salisbury. On other days, these strolls take them round the back of a community farm where they pass the time dipping their feet into the river, watching the horses on the other side, and spotting fish in the water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n