The novelist and nature writer on people’s inherent goodness and her new app, a free guided nature journal that promises to ‘open your eyes to your nearby wild’
What’s your morning ritual?
A cup of Yorkshire tea at 7am and some food for the birds, which will have been waiting since sun-up for me to show myself. I used to have a couple of feeders hanging near the cottage windows but rats moved in to my roof and walls. Now I scatter a few dried mealworms on the ground, just enough for their breakfast. And then I make my own.
I feel optimistic about …
… our increasing desire for a more nature-rich world. I’ve seen a huge shift in public attitudes in the last decade or so: the message has got out that many of the creatures we share our world with are in trouble, and people can see, feel and hear the losses since their own childhoods. If we can mobilise that willingness to help, and avoid getting bogged down in distracting culture wars, we can do a lot towards mitigating the damage we’re currently heading for.
What makes you angry?
People who drop litter. I walk most days and try to pick up what I see, but often that means my pleasant stroll is encumbered by pockets full of flattened energy drink cans, spent helium balloons (don’t get me started), plastic bottles and sweet wrappers. Still, there are hardly any plastic bags these days, proof that change is possible.
If I wasn’t a writer I’d have liked to become …
… a landscape archaeologist, a social historian or a wildlife photographer. Though if you’d asked me at the age of 10 what I wanted to be, I’d have said: ‘Eye surgeon’. What can I say? Kids are weird.
The habit that has served me best in life is …
… writing everything down that I need to remember: in a notebook, in my to-do app, in the Notes function on my phone. I can’t keep track of all the things I’m supposed to be doing while also leaving enough head space for daydreaming, imagining, wondering and eavesdropping: essential skills for a writer. So I’ve developed an iron will when it comes to filing things safely somewhere I don’t have to think about them. Then I completely let go of them until they appear in my calendar or on my to-do list.
I feel optimistic about our increasing desire for a more nature-rich world. I’ve seen a huge shift in public attitudes in the last decade or so
What brings you joy?
Gardening, walking, sitting on the bank of a river, climbing an excellent tree: being an active participant in the natural world.
When things get tough I …
… lie to myself that I’m fine. It’s not a great habit. I find it very difficult to tell when I’m being lazy or malingering (which does happen!) and when I’m genuinely exhausted and need to stop. I’m working on it.
The book I wish everyone would read is …
Much as I’d like to think that everyone reads – and much as I love literature! – books don’t do it for everyone: that’s why I’ve made nature podcasts and now the Encounter app as well as writing books: to try and meet people where they are. That’s why it’s so great that when it comes to something like Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy you can read it, watch the (incredible) BBC series, listen to it as an audiobook or see it on stage, if you prefer.
Melissa Harrison has made the Encounter nature journalling app 'to try and meet people where they are'. Image: Encounter
The big thing I’ve changed my mind about in life is …
For a long time I didn’t really think I’d get older: on some level I believed I would be allowed to opt out. But I’ve hit my half-century now and time’s progress is undeniable. What I’m discovering is that it’s the fact that life is finite isn’t something to avoid: that’s what gives it meaning, and wakes you up to how beautiful the world is.
The thing that motivates me most of all is …
I believe that people are essentially good, often secretly frightened, and as porous as sponges: for good or ill we can alter one another easily, and be altered in turn – which means we can transform society for the better through the things we say, think, and do. Just as one starling – tipping its wings – can cause the entire murmuration to billow, our words and deeds, however small, can ripple out and make change. That’s got to be worth getting out of bed for.
I believe that people are essentially good, often secretly frightened, and as porous as sponges
My parents taught me …
… to look closely and ask questions. They were both great noticers, and rather than taking the world around them for granted they were curious about everything from plants to old buildings, constellations to customs and folklore. I grew up thinking all grown-ups were like that, so it was a surprise to learn that it’s possible to go through life without paying much attention to how and why things are (and aren’t).
But attention is a super-power: it’s how we tell our brains what we want to bring into focus and what it can filter out, so the more you learn to really notice – and assuming you make good choices about what you pay attention to! – the richer and more rewarding your daily reality will be.
It’s like training an algorithm: you tell it what you want to see and hear more of by interacting with the things you like. So if you keep a journal, take photos, go birdwatching, take part in citizen science projects or use the Encounter app, for that matter, the natural world will begin to loom larger and become ever more detailed, and we know from the research that that connection will nourish you as you go through life.
'I’d like to tell my younger self that failure isn’t the thing she should be most afraid of: to lack the courage to try is far worse,' says Melissa Harrison. Image: Tom Bailey
I’d like to tell my younger self …
… that failure isn’t the thing she should be most afraid of: to lack the courage to try is far, far worse. Also, floss.
What makes you laugh?
Myself, mostly! It’s important to be able to poke fun at yourself, I think, and to let other people do it too. For the last year or so, while making Encounter, I’ve had to get used to being the least knowledgeable person on every Zoom, the one who keeps using the wrong technical terms or misunderstanding the issue at hand. It would be terrible for everyone’s morale if I was prickly about it, or pretended to know things I don’t, so we’ve just dealt with it with humour. And silly emojis.
The Encounter app is available free for iPhone and Android users in Britain and Ireland. Search ‘Encounter Nature’ wherever you get your apps
Main image: Richard Allenby-Pratt
