The 15 Practice Keys

Each Practice Key is a simple, repeatable way of spending time with nature. Some will call to you straight away; others will make sense later. There is no right order.

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Practice Key

Imitate nature

How would a fox, a deer or a heron do this?

A young roe deer lying still in long grass

A brown shield bug almost invisible on dry beech leaves

Imitating nature works on two levels: learning to disappear into a landscape as a hidden animal does, and learning to move as a particular animal moves. Slow down, mind your silhouette and the sound of your clothes, and freeze rather than flee.

The closer you come to how animals already read their world, the less your presence disturbs it, and the closer you get to watching natural behaviour. Learning to move like an animal is one of the oldest ways people have come to understand one. Just never imitate in a way that disturbs wildlife or puts you at risk.

Try this week

Slow your walk right down for one minute.
Stand still like a heron and see who comes closer.
Notice what your footsteps sound like on different ground.

Explore 58 Imitate nature activity guides Back to the Practice Keys

Safety, and where the activity guides come from

Look after yourself and others. Outdoor activities carry real risks: fire, tools, water, weather, heights, plants, fungi, animals and getting lost. Every activity guide includes safety notes, but you are responsible for your own safety and for anyone in your care. Supervise children closely, get the landowner's permission, follow the Countryside Code, never eat anything you cannot identify with complete certainty, and only light fires where it is allowed and safe. If in doubt, leave it out.

With gratitude to the lineage. The Wilding Practice Keys and many of the activities in the activity guides have been adapted from the core routines of nature connection in the 8 Shields approach (Coyote Mentoring), mapped by Jon Young and shared in Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature (Young, Haas & McGown).

These ways of noticing and belonging are far older than any book. They grow from the knowledge of Indigenous and land-based peoples around the world, who have lived in close relationship with the land for thousands of years and have kept that knowledge alive, often in the face of great loss. Jon Young describes 8 Shields as built on patterns of nature connection he found in Indigenous cultures around the world, and on what his mentors taught him, including the teachings passed down through Tom Brown Jr. from Grandfather Stalking Wolf. Our own ancestors in these islands once knew the land in this way too.

I offer Wilding with deep respect and thanks to all of them. It does not claim or copy any culture's ceremonies or sacred practices. It is a UK way of carrying forward simple, shared human ways of paying attention, giving thanks and belonging to a place. — Jay