From foraging to birdwatching: People share the outdoor activities they adopted in lockdown

After a year when many hobbies or plans were put on ice, Isabelle Aron speaks to those who’ve embraced being in nature during lockdown

(Kiera Nazarin)

Over the last year, there’s a good chance you’ve spent a lot more time in the great outdoors than usual. Lockdown restrictions have meant that with everything closed, a walk has been one of the only things to do. In fact, it was practically government-mandated during the heady days of once-daily exercise.

There’s also the fact that, when it comes to transmission of the coronavirus, being outdoors is generally less risky than being indoors, because of increased ventilation, which has led to earlier easing on outdoor socialising.

It’s no wonder, then, that we’ve all embraced more outdoor activities – whether that is just being committed to your daily loop of the block or local park, or taking it further to growing vegetables, hiking, or taking up new outdoor sports like running (Couch to 5k downloads skyrocketed last July).