About Me

Love nature? Cute animals? Birds? Exploring the UK? Then you’re in the right place!

The UK is home to an amazing array of natural landscapes and wildlife, and I’ll be sharing lots of posts about my favourite things to see, where to see them, and generally beautiful places in the UK that you should check out.  Oh, and I’ll be banging on about the importance of nature to our well-being too because that’s the reason I started all of this.

Hi, I’m Jen Shemmings-Payne: Nature lover, bird watcher, fossil hunter and amateur photographer. I’ve been toying with starting a blog for a long time, so long that it was an item on my 30 before 30 list and given I’m turning 30 in five weeks I thought I should finally get a move on.

I’ve always been an outdoorsy person and when I went to Uni, I had no clue what I wanted to study, other than that I wanted it to include biology. I decided on an MSci in Natural Sciences, mostly so I didn’t have to decide just yet, and after four years I ended up majoring in ecology and volcanology. After this, I went straight into a PhD in Plant Sciences but discovered the hard way that wasn’t right for me. With the huge toll it was taking on my mental health, I made the tough decision that it was time to drop out.

This was in 2018 and since then, I’ve started several small businesses, am two-thirds of the way through an IT degree with the Open Uni, and have generally taken the time to heal.  One of the most important things for me has been spending time outside in nature. And it’s through this that I came to learn about biophilia and the importance of time in nature for your mental health.

I’m someone who suffers from terrible “itchy feet” and I’m always wanting to explore new places. My solution has been to regularly have days and weekends away in the UK where I explore a new nature reserve, beach, or go for a new hike on the moors to scratch the newness itch. So, over the years I’ve built up a pretty good map of new and amazing places to visit in the UK and the wildlife you can see there so, that’s something I want to share with you too. Because spending time in nature is easier when you know all the best and most beautiful places!

If that sounds like something you want to be part of then you can follow me on Instagram here or crack on and read some of my articles in this blog.

Oh, and why is this blog called Night and Tay? Well, meet Tay, the Shemmings-Payne mascot and general nuisance. She likes to help by sitting on her cat tree next to my desk and snoring loudly. Her interests include eating cheese, laying in sunbeams and munching on my houseplants.



Comments

  1. Sarah P7 July 2023 at 21:56

    You seem great, but I'm intrigued by that adorable cat with a great taste in food....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jen8 July 2023 at 10:22

      Totally fair, she probably needs her own blog page if I'm honest

      Delete

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