I am Jay, sometimes known as Jay 'the jay'...

From the age of five I was a 'wild child', spending most of my time roaming feral around the countryside and returning home as it got dark. In my childhood years I only really considered nature from within the classroom or if I was trying to catch a newt...it was something you passed through or spent some time in playing!

In my 30's I wanted to get outside more with with my children and Ray Mears inspired me to take up open canoeing and bushcraft.  As a result I had many adventures with my children and found some time to venture solo & with friends to the wilder places that I had dreamed of exploring as a young adult. 

From about 40 years of age I began teaching children & adults bushcraft and canoe skills as a professional instructor and in voluntary roles. During this time I started to look after a woodland.  Despite lots of time outside I continued to feel quite separate from nature.  I viewed it as a place to seek out resources such as wild plants that you could eat, find firewood or where I could practice species identification.  

Fortunately my perspective on what nature was to me drastically altered one hot summers day when a neighbour brought my attention to the buzzard he had been watching for a couple of months.  I was in awe of this huge bird as it soared above us and I made a point of looking out for it  the next day.  I searched the skies, but could not find it...why?...where was it now?...what had it been doing so high up in the heat of the day...why did I rarely look up?

Considering the years I had spent walking around the same lanes & footpaths of the South Downs this buzzard had never before caught my attention.  I could find deadwood to light a fire in the lashing rain or nettles to add to make a tea, however I had never stopped and put the pieces of the jigsaw of nature together. I was never curious about the role of nettles as a habitat or why swallows flew thousands of miles to the UK every spring. I had never wondered why on my dog walks I only ever saw the rear end of blackbirds as they dived for cover. Ironically, I could have told you the position of all of the light switches in my house that I lived in at that time or avoid the creaky stair tread. I could tell you what time my neighbour went to work and even warn you when my dog, Sam, needed to go outside for a pee! I had spent a considerable amount of time in 'contact' with nature be it gardening or alongside some other outdoor pursuit, but I had not got to know my natural home, who lived in it with me, their habits or how they were part of a local community web that worked together.

Things have changed these days and I have a better sense of place around my home. I am in touch with nature and myself as part of it and I definitely I notice when the buzzard is soaring above or have a good idea where it is if it is not.  I founded 're-wild' as a way to thank nature for teaching me how to live 'a wilder life' in our modern times.  My legacy is to leave a trail of acorns full of natural wisdom for future generations of 'wild children' to follow .

I would like to express my gratitude to nature and my children for the 'wild days out' & 'your wild' awesomeness!

I would also like to thank you for reading this far, my parents for telling me to “go & play outside”, my teachers Sam, Jessie, Poppy, Root, William Orchin, Gladys, Al, Dee, Angelina, Jim, Ray Mears, John Ryder, David Willis, Jon Young and the legacy of Grey Owl, Lord Baden Powell, John Muir,Tom Brown Junior and Grandfather Stalking Wolf.