December is here, with its short daylight hours and long, cold nights. For many of us in northern latitudes the old rhythm of nature connection – morning sunlight, midday walks, greenery – suddenly feels limited. But what if this season isn’t a barrier… but an invitation?
What if nature connection in winter isn’t about the sun at all – but about rediscovering darkness as a form of belonging?
Reframing the Dark
A member of a recent support group once asked me what the evidence was for the benefits of nature connection in the dark. This got me thinking!
We’re used to fearing the night. As Professors Tina O’Connell and Neal White note in a recent article, culturally, “most of us are either wary, naturally afraid, or conditioned culturally to be scared of the dark from a young age.”
There are, of course, many good reasons for this. The fear of attack in quiet city streets or green spaces, for example, is very real. But perhaps a general fear of the dark is sometimes misdirected.
O’Connell and White’s research reveals that nocturnal ecologies – the living networks of night-time life – are far more threatened by us than we are by them. Artificial light, noise pollution, chemical disruption – these create a distorted night in which other species must live. Entomologist Geoff Martin, Senior Curator at the Natural History Museum, puts it sharply: “for moths there was only one Moon up to 150 years ago, and now there are millions.” Urban light becomes a fractured cosmos for wildlife: confusing, isolating, and disorienting. Just reflecting on the existence of nocturnal ecologies helps us realise:
Night is not empty. Night is alive. Night is inhabited.
We perceive a tiny fraction of reality
Author Jeanette Winterson, at the 2024 Hay Literary Festival, described the human perceptual error: we see less than 1% of the electromagnetic spectrum -yet we call that reality. Winterson reminds us:
“Our mistake is to rename visible light, what we can see, as reality. There is more out there than meets the eye.”
So, suddenly, night is not the absence of something – it is the presence of things we cannot perceive. This is where the wonder may begin.
A (night) walk on the wild side
After our recent ‘Wilding Day’ retreat, a few of us took a night walk in the Knepp Estate. This is a relatively wild place for South East England – there are deer, ponies, Tamworth pigs, and longhorn cattle. There are beaver, and storks, and many other creatures. Yet we all decided to go for a stroll.
It was very dark, but clear – the moon was dim and stars were bright. We walked without torches, and our eyes quickly became accustomed. We heard tawny owls calling in stereo – one on one side of us in the distance, one on the other. Our ears felt more attuned, sounds became clearer in tone, volume and space. The trees, earlier in the day vibrant in late autumn technicolour, were reduced to striking silhouettes. They rustled with sounds we hadn’t noticed in daytime. We began to whisper, so as to protect our hearing and somehow respect the place.
It was, to be honest, quite magical.
The Psychology of Night Connection
In 2024, researchers developed the Night Sky Connected Index (NSCI) to measure people’s sense of connection to the night sky. This is closely related to the nature connectedness scale that I use with my students on our Nature Based Coaching Skills training.
Their findings were clear: those who feel connected to the night report higher mental well-being and happiness. And a growing body of nature-connectedness research suggests something else:
Awe changes us.
Many studies now show that experiences of awe in Nature – like a star-filled sky, or a silhouetted oak tree – reduce anxiety, increase feelings of belonging, increase curiosity, and deepen meaning-making.
Nighttime Nature can become a place of refuge and support, not threat.
Nighttime Nature practices
Here are gentle winter-friendly ways to connect with the natural world at night:
1. Stargazing (even in urban skies)
Even if only a few constellations are visible, you are looking into deep time – photons that have traveled hundreds of years to reach you.
Try a star-gazing phone app and learn some of the common constellations. See if you can find out how to orientate yourself north using the stars.
2. Moonlit or twilight walks
Use a dim torch or headlamp, downward-angled, to preserve dark vision and avoid disturbing wildlife. If you really need light to shine your way, find a torch with a red light setting.
3. Listening instead of looking
You can even close your eyes for this, to amplify your other senses.
- What can you hear?
- Wind through branches?
- Owls hunting?
- Foxes communicating?
- Your own breath or heartbeat?
4. Kind garden lighting
Consider changing your garden lighting to a warmer, more wildlife-friendly tone. The Royal Horticultural Society recommend:
- Position lights as low as possible and aim them downwards or to where they’re needed
- Fit hoods over the light to reduce light pollution of the night sky
- Turn garden lights off when not in use or use PIR motion sensors or timers
- Choose low-intensity lighting and warmer hues (warm white, yellow or amber): solar lighting is cheap, safe and emits a dull glow suitable for garden use
- Encourage local councils to adopt switch-off schemes for street lighting: even part-night lighting instead of full-night lighting has been found to reduce negative impact on the behaviour of moths.
5. Celebrations and symbols
Cultures the world over celebrate the arrival and departure of darker seasons. Where I live in Brighton, the winter solstice – shortest day of the year – is marked through a modern tradition called ‘Burning of the Clocks’. Hundreds of school children walk through the town carrying paper lanterns, which are burned on a huge bonfire and firework display on the beach. A wonderful way to celebrate the changing season and enjoy being out at night.
What celebration could you adopt, or what symbol could you use to mark this time of year?
Why this matters
For your wellbeing: Night connection widens emotional perspective, soothes nervous-system activation, and cultivates quiet belonging.
For Earth’s wellbeing: Every streetlamp angled downward, every warmer spectrum bulb installed, every shielded light – helps restore nighttime ecologies.
A Coaching Perspective
In my Nature Based Coaching work, I often speak about relationships with place – not just scenery. Connecting with Nature at night invites a different quality of presence:
- less visual
- more sensory
- more intuitive
- more embodied
- more relational
When you step outside after dark, you are not an observer – you are entering an inhabited world where humans are not the dominant species.
And that humility awakens something in us. Perhaps something surprising, and useful.
Safety in the dark
Connecting with Nature at night can be powerful -but it’s important that the experience also feels safe. Many understandably feel vulnerable walking alone in darkness. Here are some thoughtful ways to protect psychological and physical safety while still accessing the benefits of night-time nature:
- Go with a friend or small group
- Choose familiar, well-known routes
- Share your location with someone before you go
- Carry a light source
- Wear reflective or visible clothing
- Trust your intuition. If something feels off, change route or head back
The invitation for December
Wrap up warmly. Step outside after dinner. Pause beneath the sky. Breathe and observe.
Ponder how it makes you feel, and whether you agree that something meaningful thing we can do -for ourselves and the other earthlings we share the planet with – is to realise we belong to the night, as well as the day.