Keeping a Nature Journal

notebook page ©Donna Long

Keeping a nature journal or naturalist's notebook can be a wonderful hobby.

It is a satisfying way to get to know and understand the land that you live in. My notebooks help me to know, share, live respectfully and protect the land.

For writers, it is useful for generating ideas and first drafts. Observations can find their way into natural history essays, poems and other writings.

For artists, it can contain field sketches, detailed drawings and photographs that can be used to base finished works on.

For craftspeople a book filled with bark or leaf rubbings, prints and pressed flowers and plants can be quite satisfying.

For gardeners, it can record the bloom times, insect hatchings, and harvest times of fruit and vegetables.

For naturalists with a scientific bend, it can follow the Grinnell Naturalist's Field Journal system. It consists of a field notebook, field journal, species account and catalog. You can use  one or more of these components. I use a modified Grinnell format myself.

Knowing about the many approaches can help you to develop your own personal style.

So what do you write down? What do you draw? What materials do you need?

Start by reading the observation checklist. It is a very basic list and a good guideline to start off every entry.

From there move to choosing a place and a guiding theme. And then on to journal prompts.

And if you are still hesitant, I can assure you that since 1990, I have not once been visited by the journal police.

Even with saying that, a naturalist's notebook is not meant to be private but is often shared with others. Keeping a separate personal diary where you can record your private thoughts and feelings solves the privacy issue.

But, then again, your naturalist's notebook is yours, to do with what you will. My task is to guide the newcomers so they can make their own self-made path.

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