Welcome to our joint-blogging series for the Wildlife Trusts’ 30 Days Wild Challenge – you can read more about the campaign and ourselves in our introduction page.

(Megan, in coastal Dorset)

As the third day of the challenge continued along its way, I was not feeling hopeful about connecting with nature. I had to be in the office all day. Whilst my job does support the conservation of wildlife, there wasn’t any direct connection happening today. After work wasn’t much better, as I had to quickly gulp down some food before dashing out to Scouts (I am in the process of becoming a trainee leader with a local group).

I breathed a sigh of relief when the main leader announced that we were off to the local woodland to practice shelter building. Finally, in amongst some nature! The scouts made their shelter, whilst we leaders also made one. It has been a while since I last did shelter building, I had forgotten just how fun it is!

(Matt, at a conference in Germany)

When the only green space you have access to is fairly low quality (compared to what you’re used to) you really become grateful for the small things.

Outside the buildings on the UN campus here in Bonn buttercups and daisies bring some colour to the grass, and a few trees add shade amongst the sunlit lawns. These subtle colour mixes are light relief from the heavy duty negotiations over commas and brackets going on inside the conference.

But I was overjoyed when I heard an unfamiliar bird call, one I hadn’t heard for a while. It took me a moment to remember what it was, before I spotted a smart male black redstart sitting on top of the fence and, moments later, a female one flitted from a bush to land atop a post.

Extremely rare in the UK these birds are far more common on the continent and I should probably have been on the lookout for them. They’ve certainly been the most exciting wild encounter I’ve had during my 30 days so far.