With No Mow May, World Bee Day and World Biodiversity Day, May is all about celebrating biodiversity. As Spring is in full swing, you are likely to see many insects including caterpillars and various pollinators in your Tiny Forest. They may eat some of the leaves on the trees, but that shouldn’t affect the trees’ growth or survival too much. In May we also mark Mental Health Awareness Week and celebrate Outdoor Classroom Day. Unsurprisingly, these two themes have a lot in common!

Get involved in our Tiny Forest Biodiversity Week taking place between 18 - 26 May 2024 and engage as many people in recording pollinators and butterflies in your Tiny Forest as possible. To help you boost your wildlife identification skills, make sure that you watch one of our webinars this month. There are also other helpful online resources available, such as The Open University Pollinator Watch Guide or Common British Caterpillar Identification by the Woodland Trust. Find out more about the importance of our insects and how to prevent further extinction on a local and (inter)national scale. 

Have you ever experienced ecoanxiety, eco-grief or solastalgia? All of these are normal emotions describing the overwhelming feelings of fear, despair and anxiety over the ecological crisis. When combined with other life worries, it can feel really overwhelming. Young people are particularly vulnerable. Luckily, your Tiny Forest is a perfect place to talk about these difficult feelings. With nature’s calming effect, it is easier to accept the emotions and channel them towards positive action. You might even have a neighbour or a friend who practices meditation and would happily lead a calming outdoor session. Use Outdoor Classroom Day and Mental Health Awareness Week as inspiration to engage diverse groups in your areas community building can be another powerful tool to deal with the challenges we face. 

Sign up for the Biodiversity Week on our website and record your observations. Watch our helpful Tiny Forest Biodiversity Training to help you prepare. To conduct the surveys, simply use your phone to scan the QR code on your Tiny Forest plaque or download and print monitoring resources from the Tiny Forest portal.