If you’re in the parts of the world where it is currently moving into summer, you might be noticing that the world around you has come to life. If you’re moving into winter, you might be desperately missing those plants, flowers, and creatures that kept you company a few short months ago.
Either way, I’m firmly convinced that the more of the natural world we experience, the more expansive our worlds are.
Whether we are in a position to go outside, surrounded by flowers and insects and birds, or whether we are stuck inside or are in a season where there’s less to see, one way to get more of the natural world is on Instagram. Its image-based format makes it perfect for us to see, and learn more about, the beautiful and intriguing things that we share the world with.
Here are 11 Instagram accounts that will give you a boost, replace doomscrolling with wholesomeness, and instead fill your eyes, and mind, with pretty – and fascinating – features of the natural world.
Bellflower & Bloom
With the slogan “Bloom for a better world”, Bellflower & Bloom’s account is not only beautiful to look at, it’s also full of useful information about helping nature, especially bees.
In this post, we see a red-headed cardinal beetle and get some bonus information about their Dewdrop Challenge
Artist Harriet Impey
Harriet Impey is a Netherlands-based artist whose stunning work is inspired by nature (I’ve previously written about a film about her).
As an example, this lichen represented in glass is impressively delicate and aesthetically gorgeous.
RSPB Bempton Cliffs
RSPB Bempton Cliffs is home to the UK’s largest mainland seabird colony and their Instagram account is made up of stunning shot after stunning shot of puffins, kittiwakes, gannets, and even dolphins.
Gerald Stratford
Gerald Stratford is a gardener whose enthusiasm for the vegetables he grows is absolutely infectious.
He makes you want to plant stuff and eat what you grow.
Keegan Clifford
Keegan Clifford is dedicated to “Growing, giving, loving and learning” and shares colourful and lively photos of the food he is planting and growing.
Greg Oakley Fine Art
Greg Oakley is an artists whose paintings and prints of birds are breathtakingly realistic.
Here, he painted a Poʻo-uli (Melamprosops phaeosoma), a now-extinct bird that was endemic to the island of Maui in Hawaii.
Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust
This South Yorkshire charity describes itself as “For nature, for everyone”, and the photos and information it shares are informative as well as beautiful.
In this post, a photograph of a lapwing (by Mark Hamblin) is accompanied by some snippets of information about these intriguing birds.
Lee Foster-Wilson: Bonbi Forest
This Cornwall-based artist and illustrator creates colourful illustrations of the world around us – I absolutely love this damselfly.
Printmaker Beth Knight
Beth Knight is a printmaker in North Pembrokeshire whose work represents the natural world playfully and really appealingly.
I love the way she uses colour and explains some of her artistic process at the same time.
Inguna Smilšarāja
Inguna Smilšarāja shares photographs of plants and flowers that are both beautiful and educational, as she tells us about each flower and even includes gardening advice, too.
Dee: My Wildlife Garden
Dee shares stunning photos of birds that she takes in her garden in Lancashire, which she has set up to be as wildlife-friendly as possible.
Image: OpenClipart-Vectors