30 Days Wild, June 2020: OX3

30 Days Wild is always a fun challenge - but this year it's felt like more of a challenge than usual.

June 2020

The LockDown rules mean that I (like everyone else) had to stay local for 30 Days Wild this year - so it meant that all 30 pictures were taken within three miles of the Oxford house - mostly at the local nature reserves or on the various lanes around Headington.

The other aspect of the challenge was the fact that this year I felt I'd been following the same routine for about 10 weeks (since the start of LockDown) before we got to the start of 30 Days Wild. 

Back in March when the working-at-home routine started I decided that the best way to ensure that I got a 'green fix' each day was to walk to one of the local green spaces - and I'd found that having my walk early in the day was the lowest stress way to get my exercise - and to take a daily picture.

But by early June, I'd 'done' all the local walks many times - and really was ready for some new walks.

The saving grace (if that's the right phrase) is the fact that the LockDown was happening through the spring and summer - so we've gone from bare trees and early blossom through the snow drops and bluebells and onto full trees and local orchids.  It has felt like an opportunity to spend extra time watching the spring unfold in Oxfordshire.