The Beginner’s Guide to Nature Journalling

Welcome to the Stillness

In a world that spins fast, where screens flicker and notifications demand constant attention, the quiet rhythms of the natural world offer something profoundly rare: stillness. When we step outside, even for a few minutes, we begin to feel it—the slow turning of the seasons, the subtle shift in light, the breeze that brushes past without expectation.

This guide is your invitation to slow down.
To notice. To reflect.
To reconnect with the quiet intelligence of the earth through the simple, grounding act of keeping a nature journal.

Nature journalling isn’t just about drawing leaves or writing down bird sightings (though you may do both). It’s about relearning how to see—to engage the senses, to let the mind rest and the heart open. Whether you live in the countryside or a city apartment with a single houseplant, this practice is available to you.

Over the paragraphs that follow, you’ll explore how to:

• Observe nature with fresh eyes, even in familiar places
• Turn seasonal changes into creative inspiration
• Use your journal as a personal sanctuary and source of insight
• Combine art, science, poetry, and play into your journalling process

You don’t need to be a writer, an artist, or a naturalist. You only need curiosity—and a willingness to be still.

So take a breath. Step outside, or look out of the nearest window. The stillness is already waiting.

Why Nature Journalling Matters

🌀 1. Reclaiming Your Attention

Our attention is perhaps the most valuable—and exploited—resource we have. Nature journalling reclaims it. When you sit beneath a tree or pause to watch an ant carry a crumb, you are resisting the speed of the world. You are saying: This moment matters.

Even just ten minutes of slow observation changes the way your brain works. Stress levels drop. Heart rate slows. Focus sharpens. Nature journalling becomes a form of active mindfulness, engaging both inner stillness and outward curiosity.

🌿 2. Deepening Your Connection to Place

This connection also fosters a quiet kind of stewardship. When you care about a place, you’re more likely to protect it. You see what’s at stake—and what’s worth saving.

🎨 3. Rediscovering Creativity

🧭 4. Honouring the Cycles Within & Without

You don’t need fancy tools, a perfect sketchbook, or remote access to wilderness to begin nature journalling. In fact, the only essential item is your attention. That said, a few simple tools and a flexible mindset will help you begin your journey with joy and ease.

Start light. The goal isn’t to gear up like a biologist on expedition—unless you want to. Your kit can be as minimal or as rich as suits your style.

✍️ Basic Supplies:

• A journal — Any notebook will do. Choose one that feels inviting. Options:
  • Blank pages for free expression
  • Lined pages for writing-heavy journalling
  • Mixed-media or watercolour journals if you’ll be sketching or painting
• Pen or pencil — Something smooth and reliable. A black fineliner is a favourite among many.
• Optional Extras:
  • Coloured pencils or watercolour set
  • Double-sided tape for adding found leaves or feathers
  • A pouch or tin to carry it all in

If you’re journalling on the go, make sure everything fits into a small bag or pocket.

📍 2. Finding Your Spot

You don’t have to be deep in the forest or on a mountain peak. Start where you are:

• A park bench
• Your backyard or balcony
• The view from your window
• A corner of your garden
• A patch of sidewalk where weeds push through

🧭 3. Your First Entry: Just Begin

Your first journal page doesn’t have to be profound. Begin with the basics:

• Date, time, and location
• Weather conditions (sunny, breezy, damp, cold, etc.)
• A quick sketch or note about what drew your attention
• One question you have about what you saw

Example entry:
April 9, 2025 – 8:12 AM – East-facing window
Cool, overcast. A robin is pecking at the ground. What is it eating?
Noticed the first daffodil blooming below the steps—yellow like sun.

This is all you need to begin. Over time, your style will emerge. Some days you may write; others you may sketch. Sometimes you may only sit and observe. Every way is valid.

🌱 4. Create a Ritual

• Your attention sharpens
• You start looking for patterns
• You feel more grounded in your day

Your journal becomes a gentle anchor—a reminder that the world is always turning, slowly and beautifully, around you.

Nature journalling begins with a shift—not in location, but in perception. To observe is to slow down, to pay attention on purpose, and to notice what you might otherwise pass by. It is the quiet art of becoming present with the world.

• Choose any natural object—a leaf, a bug, a pebble, a cloud.
• Spend 2–5 minutes simply observing it without doing anything else.
• Ask yourself:
  • What shapes do I see?
  • What patterns?
  • What colors or textures?
  • Does it move? How does the light touch it?

By the end of those few minutes, you will know that object differently than when you began.

✨ 2. The Observer’s Mindset

Observation is not about knowing everything. It’s about curiosity. You don’t have to identify every species or explain every sound—you just have to notice. The best nature journallers ask questions more often than they answer them.

Some helpful phrases to spark mindful observation:

• “I notice…”
• “I wonder…”
• “It reminds me of…”
• “What does this mean?”
• “I’ve never seen this before…”

Each observation is a doorway into deeper awareness, not a test to be passed.

🔍 3. Noticing the “Small Quiet Things”

We’re conditioned to seek what’s big, loud, or dramatic. But nature journalling thrives in subtlety:

• The spiral in a snail shell
• A trail of ant tracks across a stone
• A shadow shifting across the bark
• The change in temperature between shade and sun

Try choosing a single square foot of ground and journalling everything you can observe within it. You might be surprised at how alive and layered it is.

🕰️ 4. Observing Over Time

The longer you observe something, the more it reveals. Try these:

• Watch the same flower day and note how it changes
• Sit in one place for 15 minutes and record the sounds you hear
• Track the position of the sun or moon at the same hour over several days

This is where journalling moves from hobby to relationship. You begin to develop a sense of time that’s rooted in place and pattern.

🌱 5. Practice Prompt: “The One-Thing Walk”

Go for a short walk (5–15 minutes) with the sole purpose of finding one thing to observe deeply.

Once you find it, stop. Sit if possible. Spend 5 minutes studying it, then:

• Write 3 descriptive sentences
• Draw it (even if it’s rough)
• Ask at least one question about it
• Reflect: How do you feel after slowing down?

Repeat this once a week, and your observation skills will deepen naturally.

To observe nature is to learn a new kind of listening. One that happens with your eyes, your ears, your skin, and your breath. The more you practice, the more the world opens up to you—not because it changes, but because you do.

Sensory Noticing — Beyond What You See

Sight is the most commonly used sense in journalling, but nature has far more to offer than what meets the eye. When you slow down and tune into sound, scent, touch, and even intuition, your journalling becomes richer, more personal, and more alive.

👂 1. Listening to the Landscape

Sound reveals what the eyes may miss: the direction of wind, the chatter of birds, a distant river, the creak of branches. It also tells you how a place feels—whether it’s bustling or still, wild or tame.

Try This:

• Close your eyes and listen for 1–2 minutes.
• Identify:
  • Natural sounds (birds, water, insects)
  • Human-made sounds (cars, voices, machinery)
  • Ambient sounds (wind, rustling leaves, distant echoes)

Write down what you heard and how it made you feel.

Prompt: “The softest sound I noticed today was…”

👃 2. Scent: The Forgotten Sense

Scent is memory-rich and often overlooked. Fresh rain, sun-warmed pine, decaying leaves, dry soil, morning dew—each carries meaning and emotion.

Try This:

• Pause to inhale deeply through your nose.
• What do you smell? Earthy, floral, musty, fresh, smoky?
• What does that scent remind you of?

Prompt: “The air smelled like…”
“This scent reminds me of…”

Keep in mind, the best scents often come just after rain or at dawn/dusk.

✋ 3. Touch: The Texture of the World

Our skin is a powerful tool for connecting with nature. Notice textures, temperatures, and the feel of air or moisture.

Try this:

• Touch a variety of natural elements:
  • Bark (rough/smooth?)
  • Rocks (warm/cool?)
  • Water (flowing/still?)
  • Leaves (velvety/waxy/sticky?)

Write a tactile description without naming the object (e.g., “Soft like worn cotton, but cool and slightly damp”).

Prompt: “Today I touched something that felt like…”

• A garden-grown herb
• Fresh rain
• Wild berries
• The mineral tang of mountain air

🧘 5. Intuitive Awareness

Sometimes, a place “feels” a certain way—before you can explain why. It may feel peaceful, mysterious, heavy, joyful, or alive. This is your felt sense—a subtle, intuitive way of perceiving.

Trust it. Try journalling not just what you noticed, but what you felt about it.

Prompt: “The atmosphere of this place feels…”
“If this landscape had a personality, it would be…”

🧺 Practice Prompt: The Five Senses Scan

Find a quiet outdoor spot. Spend 1–2 minutes with each sense:

• Sight – What colours, shapes, movements?
• Sound – What layers of sound can you detect?
• Scent – Subtle or strong?
• Touch – What textures or temperatures?
• Intuition – What’s the emotional tone of this moment?

Write a short paragraph that weaves all five together.

“The air felt cool on my skin and smelled of pine needles and old stone. I heard the hum of bees and the sigh of wind through grasses. This place feels wise—like it’s older than time.”

Nature journalling is more than observation—it’s immersion. The more you engage your senses, the more grounded and vivid your experience becomes.

Let the world come to you—not just through your eyes, but through every part of your being.

Sketching in the Wild

You don’t need to be an artist to draw in your nature journal. In fact, drawing isn’t about making something “look right”—it’s about slowing down to see. A sketch is simply a record of attention, a way to connect your hand, your eye, and your curiosity to the living world.

This section is your guide to sketching as a tool for observation, not performance.

✍️ 1. Let Go of “Good”

Forget about making your drawing look perfect. Nature isn’t perfect, and your journal doesn’t need to be either.

You are:

• Recording what you observe, not reproducing a photograph
• Training your eye to notice form, texture, and relationship
• Learning through looking—and that’s the whole point

“A shaky drawing of a real experience is worth more than a flawless one done from a photo later.”

🐚 2. What to Sketch

Start small. Focus on one object or detail.
Here are great beginner sketch subjects:

• A single leaf (try top and underside)
• A feather
• A flower, from bud to bloom
• A beetle, snail, or butterfly
• A stone with unique shape or markings
• Tree bark, textured or patterned
• A bird silhouette or footprint

• Weather patterns (clouds, sun rays)
• Landscape contours
• Tracks or trails
• Seed pods and cones

Tip: The more you observe, the less you need to “invent.” Let the object lead.

✏️ 3. Tools & Techniques

You don’t need much to begin—just a pencil or pen and a few minutes.

Quick techniques:

• Contour drawing: Trace the edges with your eye while drawing slowly and steadily, without lifting your pen. Focus on form, not detail.
• Gesture drawing: Loose, fast sketches to capture posture or motion (great for birds or animals).
• Close-up sketch: Draw a small part of a subject up close—like the veins of a leaf or the spirals of a shell.
• Labelling: Add notes around your sketch: colour, texture, date, behaviour (“saw ant crawling across here”).

Remember: A sketch paired with a sentence is more powerful than either one alone.

🧠 4. Drawing as Inquiry

Let your sketching be guided by curiosity, not just aesthetics.

Ask:

• How is this shaped the way it is?
• What do the patterns suggest about its function?
• What changes over time—how might this look tomorrow?

Sketching is not just drawing—it’s learning with your eyes and hand.

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🌼 Practice Prompt: Five-Minute Object Sketch

Find a natural object and spend just five minutes sketching it. Use any or all of the following:

• Outline
• Texture shading
• Labels or arrows for interesting features
• Notes: “This part is fuzzy,” “This stem bends like a hook,” etc.

If you’re not satisfied with the result—good! That means you’re seeing more clearly. Growth happens there.

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📓 Optional: Create a Visual Index Page

Pick a page in your journal to start a “specimen gallery” where you collect small sketches of different natural finds, each labelled with the date and location. Over time, this becomes a living archive.

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To sketch in the wild is to slow down and build a relationship—not just with what you see, but with how you see it. Over time, you’ll notice more, remember more, and connect more deeply with the living world around you.

Your nature journal is a place where writing becomes witnessing—a space where you translate your observations and emotions into words. You don’t need to be a poet or a scientist to write in a nature journal. You only need a willingness to slow down, notice, and express.

Common styles:

• Descriptive prose: “The sunlight filtered through the pines like golden dust.”
• Lists: “3 birds seen today, 2 types of cloud, 1 strange scent.”
• Questions: “Why are these leaves curling inward?”
• Reflections: “The quiet today matched my own.”
• Poetry or haiku: A brief way to distill an experience.

You might combine several styles in one entry—or stick to what fits that day.

👀 2. Writing as Deep Noticing

The more you write, the more you notice—not just what is present, but how it changes.

Try this framework when you’re not sure where to begin:

• I see… (objective observation)
• I feel… (emotional or sensory response)
• I wonder… (curiosity and questions)
• This reminds me of… (connection or memory)

Descriptive writing sharpens your eye and anchors your experience.

Practice these:

• Use the five senses: Describe not just how something looks, but how it sounds, smells, or feels.
• Get specific: Not just “a tree,” but “a gnarled cedar with twisted bark like rope.”
• Avoid clichés: Replace generic phrases like “a beautiful sunset” with what made this sunset beautiful—colours, feelings, sky shapes, etc.
• Zoom in and out: Describe both the detail (a single feather) and the setting (the entire forest edge).

Your journal can hold both fact and feeling. Many nature writers, e.g. Beatrix Potter, beautifully balance observation with reflection.

You might:

• Record the species name and the mood it evoked
• Sketch a plant and describe its role in the ecosystem
• Write a paragraph that includes data and wonder

This dual lens of science and spirit gives your writing depth and authenticity.

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📓 Optional Practice: Keep a Running Log

In a section of your journal, try keeping a log of ongoing changes:

• What returns, disappears, or transforms?
• How does your internal state reflect the external world?

Over time, your words will reveal patterns in both place and self.

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🗺️ 1. Why Map?

• Record where things happen (Where was that bird’s nest?)
• Track seasonal changes (Where did the first frost hit?)
• Notice patterns over time (Where do the squirrels store their acorns?)
• Enhance spatial awareness (How does the landscape shift from morning to evening?)

In a way, your map is a story told in layers.

There are many kinds of maps you can make in your journal. Here are a few to get started:

This is a simple, rough map that shows the layout of a place as you see it. It doesn’t need to be to scale—just capture the features that stand out.

🌳 Site Maps

Create a map of a specific spot—like a tree, a patch of soil, or a section of your garden. Sketch its features, record the plants, animals, and objects nearby.

Example: A close-up map of the area around a fallen log—mark where you find mushrooms, moss, or ants.

🌎 Environmental Map

This kind of map highlights natural features and how they relate to one another, like the placement of bodies of water, ridgelines, or forest edges. This type of map helps you connect natural elements.

Example: You might map a trail, noting the trees and flowers that line it, or mark out the high and low points in a hilltop view.

Animal Tracks & Signs

Tracking doesn’t always require you to see the animal itself. Sometimes the tracks or evidence it leaves are enough.
Look for:

• Footprints in mud or snow
• Nests or dens
• Broken branches (a sign of a larger animal passing through)
• Scat or fur (which can tell you what the animal has been eating)

Document these signs in your journal:

• Draw the track shape, size, and any distinguishing features.
• Write down what kind of animal might have made it.
• Note the time of day and location.

Don’t feel the need to separate mapping from writing or sketching. Combine these forms for deeper exploration.
You might:

• Map the area and note observations about temperature, sound, or plant growth in the margins.
• Combine sketches and maps to show the larger context of a particular plant or animal’s environment.
• Mark the passage of time with notes about the weather, animal behavior, or even your own experiences (Did you feel different in this spot today than you did last week?).

Example: A map of your walk shows the route you took, but it also includes sketches of the flowers you stopped to observe and the bird you heard in the distance.

🧭 5. Practice Prompt: Your “Home” Map

Then, include:

• A few notes about the things you notice (weather, animals, changes in color or texture).
• Any patterns or shifts you observe (Is the ground damp or dry? Are there more or fewer birds around than last time?).
• Consider the seasonal elements you see. How do they vary over time?

Maps and tracks offer a deeper way of relating to the places you visit. By recording movement—whether it’s the path of the sun or the trail of a fox—you capture the pulse of the world, the rhythm that underlies everything.

Conclusion: The Gift of Stillness

In a world filled with noise and speed, nature journalling invites us to pause. It is a quiet practice of observation, reflection, and expression — a way to slow down and notice the world around you and within you. “Seasons of Stillness” is more than a journalling method; it’s a mindset that welcomes peace, presence, and deep connection with the natural world.

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