30 Days Wild: Day 1 - Couch Potato

Today The Wildlife Trusts have launched their 30 Days Wild campaign with the aim of encouraging all of us to do something wild every single day throughout June.  Not wild in a "I got legless drunk and threw a TV set threw a window" way, more in a "I'm connecting with the wild things in nature" way

I'll be honest, so far as I'm concerned they could have picked a better month.  This June is possibly the busiest month I have ever had and over the course of the next 30 days I'll be visiting Grizedale, Kendal, Leyland, Alston Hall, Wokingham, Leighton Moss, London (for a week), Portsmouth, Penrith and Wigan for work purposes and the occasional bit of enjoyment.  We'll also be spending 4 days cycling the entire route around Morecambe Bay for the launch of the new Morecambe Bay Cycle Way.  Oh, and the deadline for our book is 30th June plus it's my birthday on the 18th June so there'll be at least one day with a hangover.

View from the scopes at Foulshaw Moss

I'll be blogging every day for the entire month to chart our wild encounters - some large, some small - to prove that whatever you're doing and wherever you are, you can make time and space in your life for nature.

Today I'm starting small and simple with something you can do from your desk or sofa - Cumbria Wildlife Trust have set up an "Osprey Cam" on the osprey nest in Foulshaw Moss.  Most days you can visit the reserve to get a view through the manned scopes on the viewing platforms, but right now, wherever you are, you can click on this link to see live footage streamed directly from the nest.  It's well worth watching too, in the past 24 hours 2 chicks have hatched from the 3 eggs laid and while mum is busy protecting them from the wind and rain dad goes out hunting for food and occasionally hides out in his roosting tree ("man shed") nearby.

If you're new to osprey watching check out their handy "Know your osprey" blog and take a peek at the footage below to see the moment we discovered there were three eggs.

Tomorrow we'll be going wild on Segways with Go Ape in Grizedale Forest so watch this space for red squirrels, gorgeous views and possibly the occasional bruise...