A Guide to Nature Journaling

Materials needed for journaling:

1. A blank journal—any size, shape, or color! Whatever style you prefer, make sure it’s easy enough to take with you outside. Weatherproof notebooks make excellent nature journals.
2. A pencil—in case you need to make changes in your notes, it’s best to use an erasable writing utensil.
3. Coloring materials—to enhance your field sketches!
4. Field guides—best to bring guides on a variety of organisms as you’re likely to encounter a good deal of biodiversity, like fungi, plants, and insects as well as birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. There are several apps for mobile devices that serve as excellent field guides to help lighten your load!
5. Camera—if you’re not comfortable drawing in the field, bring a camera to take pictures for later.

How to nature journal

Think of a nature journal like a regular diary, but for your outdoor adventures. Each entry should have a date, time, and consistent format so it’s easy to go back and review past notes. You may also want to make note of what the weather is like; overcast, sunny, rainy, cold, or hot.

You can include any kind of content you like, depending on what you want to get out of your journal. Consider short stories, bulleted notes, poems, collages, long-form notes and descriptions of your observations, or a combination of all of these; it’s your journal!

Many nature journals include some form of art and illustration, as drawing is an excellent way of spending time getting to know your subject. You can focus on whatever interests you most, but try being as detailed as possible. Think about size, shape, color, any details that might be helpful in not only identifying what you see but also to refer back to if you encounter your subject again later to note any changes that may have occurred. For example, the oak tree in your yard might have vibrant green leaves now, but it’ll look very different in six months. You’ll be glad you spent time making a detailed drawing and description to reflect on during the winter months.

In addition to these tools and tips, there are several resources available to help you get started. Author (and Manomet member) Clare Walker Leslie has written several books on the subject of nature journaling and connecting to nature, including Keeping a Nature Journal (2000), and The Nature Connection: An Outdoor Workbook for Kids, Families, and Classrooms (2010). To learn more about Clare and her work, visit her website, www.clarewalkerleslie.com.

Try it out!

Click the image below to download this template and draft your very first nature journal entry. We hope this will inspire you to start journaling!

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