COVID-19 Impacts: How time in nature and outdoor exercise is continuing to help Scots cope with the Coronavirus crisis
Last week NatureScot (Scotland’s Nature Agency recently renamed from SNH) published the results from the second wave of a programme of research we have conducted for them, measuring the changing behaviours, attitudes and aspirations of Scots during the Coronavirus crisis.
Interviewing for the second wave of research took place in September with 1,100 interviews conducted online, providing an updated view on how the population is behaving and feeling 6 months after the start of ‘lockdown’. Encouragingly, we found that during this period four in five Scots visited the outdoors for leisure or exercise at least once a week, a higher level that during the initial March to May lockdown period and much higher than the ‘norm’ recorded in previous years. Also increasing proportions are reporting benefits from their time in nature although many also faced issues such as a litter, crowding and a lack of public toilets.
The summary report is available below or you can access the detailed full results on the NatureScot website here.
