Slow Approach, Wild Discoveries

Poppyella Oakley, founder of The Slow Approach magazine, is a slow fashion model, creative and self-professed wildlife fan, based in Wiltshire. It was working in the café at Langford Lakes that first inspired her love of birding, and this year she has set herself the challenge of spending more time outdoors; here, Poppy tells her story…

Born and bred in rural Wiltshire, I have always had our local environment on my mind. Seeing the snowdrops ﬂower in Winter, the sun fall over the Wylye Valley on late summer evenings, some of my fondest memories growing up centre in the outdoors. Now, having turned 24, I feel like my love for environmentalism continues to guide me in what I do, through life and through work, in ways that I didn’t expect.

How the people of Langford Lakes ignited my love for birding

Simon and Lorna at The Kingﬁsher Cafe took me on as a Barista in 2023. I used to enjoy visiting Langford Lakes for the easy walk, and especially to see the brilliant dragonﬂies that dance about the paths in the warmer months. It was one afternoon that I stopped by the Cafe for a coffee and thought to myself “I should ask for a job”, so, I did!

Although I already freelanced within sustainable fashion (more on that later), I really wasn’t clued up on wildlife. Customers used to come into the cafe, talking amongst themselves about rare visitors, and I didn’t have the foggiest as to what was going on. It took me longer than I care to admit to be able to identify even our regular lake dwellers, and even longer to realise a Kingﬁsher wasn’t a bigger bird like for some reason I thought it was? None the less, I enjoyed listening to customer’s stories about their day, glancing out over the lake and picking up a bit of knowledge here and there.

One day, I thought “I must go see what all the fuss is about.” Merlin was downloaded and a pair of binoculars were ‘borrowed’ from a family member - I was onto something.

I have been birding for give or take a year now, and even though I have got quite a few lifers under my belt, I still feel like an absolute newbie most of the time. Patience is a skill that I have been working on thanks to birding, but sometimes those rarer species just fall on your lap.

2025: The year of “going outside even though I don’t really want to"

We all know that spending time outdoors is beneﬁcial to our wellbeing, right? Be it from getting those steps in to breathing in that fresh air, paired with some downtime from work. All good stuff. However, you may experience the same issue as me as sometimes: I excessively choose the sofa and a screen over getting outside. I set myself a goal this year to kick myself out of this cycle- using my interest in birding as a catalyst to do so. By setting myself targets and holding myself accountable by sharing it on my social media I have really made steps in the right direction.

From watching the Starling murmurations in awe in Somerset, to seeing a rare Winter migrant, an Avocet, in Belfast, this year is off to a great start that I wouldn’t have had without pushing myself out of my comfort zone.

Birding has gifted so much more than I thought it would- I never expected it to be the foundation I set these new healthy habits upon that have had an invariable difference in my life!

The Slow Approach Magazine: Sustainable Fashion and Slow Living

I am still a Barista, which I love, to balance out the chaotic time I have working within my main ﬁeld of fashion. What started off as an Instagram proﬁle sharing my bargain secondhand ﬁnds during COVID, over 4 or so years has led me to modelling sustainable fashion in British Vogue a couple times. It has been a wild ride!

The itch to find a bigger, more impactful way to pursue my passion directed me to create The Slow Approach Magazine. I call it: “An ode to the environment and to those who innovatively protect it.”

Working with models, photographers and fashion designers in the south west and beyond, I curate the publication with one thing in mind: celebrating sustainable fashion and conscious living. Articles explore everything from wild swimming to punk music and their links to sustainability. Self-funded, self-published, and pretty gorgeous if I may say so myself, the magazine continues to grow into its place in the sustainable fashion sphere.