I grew up in London near Hampstead Heath, and it is always the first place I go when I need to fill my cup with nature and seek sanctuary from the harsher edges of city life. It has always felt a surprisingly wild place compared to the city's numerous other parks and I have spent many days lost down woodland paths drawing, walking my dog and swimming in the ponds. I know all its landscape intimately, so the smallest changes in plants, wildlife or hold my attention and asked to be looked at closer. From an ecological viewpoint the Heath is an important wildlife sanctuary, hosting hundreds of wildflower species, birds, butterflies, moths, beetles, bats, and even snakes and muntjac deer. Lying in one of the wildflower meadows this May, I could feel the air vibrating with life and I imagined what might be hiding next to me in the long grass.