30th May 2025 - morning, Worcestershire

I’m starting this blog looking out onto a rainy garden in Worcestershire, which might seem like a strange way to start a blog called ‘The Norfolk Naturalist’.

The idea to begin this diary came, like so many other ideas I’ve had in my life, whilst on a long car journey. Somewhere between the standstill traffic around Kettering and the drizzle as I steered around Coventry, I made the decision just to do it.

I was fortunate to grow up one of the last generations climbing trees, riding my bike until dusk, spending Summers lost in the fields near my English village - scraped knees, no sense of time, and living for the moment.

Despite studying environmental science and geography at University, my adult years since then saw a deepening chasm between myself and the natural world.

It became something I gazed at out of train windows and dipped safely in and out occasionally on family holiday. Years are passing and I have realised that there is so much I don’t know but want to know about the natural world.

Many years spent living in Norfolk and not appreciating what an incredible part of the English countryside I live in ends today. It's exploration and learning time, folks.

I travel back home to Norfolk today after visiting family and I'm excited to begin this journey. I hope you will join me as I walk and record what I see and encounter.

-Regards, HK