Life is tweet when you’ve got feathered friends
Aged 17, Mya-Rose Craig became the youngest person to have seen more than half the world’s 10,000 bird species. Now 21, the ornithologist and activist is passionately championing the mindful qualities of her hobby
WITH their distinctive orange and black head stripes, goldcrests are the punk rockers of the birding world. But measuring just 9cm, they’re also the UK’s smallest birds. Which means you’ve got to move fast with your binoculars to see one. Literally, blink and you’ll miss it – as I did on my first birdwatching trip.
In fairness, this London girl is more used to spotting wayward e-scooters than flitting birds, but it’s my first lesson in why this humble pastime needs sharp reflexes.
Not that I should worry, assures my eagleeyed companion, ornithologist Mya-Rose Craig, as I lower my binocs. Birdwatching gets easier with time and practice.
“My dad taught me everything I know,” she says, scouring the skies as she speaks.
At 17, she became the youngest person to see more than half of the world’s 10,000 bird species after spotting a harpy eagle, pictured right, in the Brazilian Amazon.
British-Bangladeshi and still only 21, MyaRose doesn’t fit the stereotypical middleclass, middle-aged image of a birder.
She took her first trip at nine days old with her parents, Chris and Helena, and her older sister, Ayesha. By the time she was 11, she had started an online blog, Birdgirl, to document her birdwatching travels.
In 2020, she received an honorary doctorate from Bristol University for her environmentalism and green activism. And last week, she urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to set legally binding nature targets to reverse nature loss by 2030.
Having visited all seven continents, MyaRose is happy to observe mainly British birds for now as she studies human, social and political sciences at Cambridge University.
But is it still possible to enjoy spotting the humble house sparrow when you’ve seen a southern cassowary in northern Australia?
Absolutely, she insists. “I’m not always in the mood to go on a big adventure looking for rare species, I have a lot of love for the birds on my doorstep.”
It’s why she’s invited me to the UK’s fifthlargest artificial lake, close to her parents’ cottage in the Mendip Hills near Bristol, for a morning of birdwatching. Home to 260 species of birds, the 1,200-acre Chew Valley Lake site is a designated Special Protection Area and one of Britain’s most important sites for wildfowl. Up to 50,000 gulls nest here in winter and notable breeding species include the great crested grebe, tufted duck, gadwall, and northern shoveler.
RATHER embarrassingly, I can count the names of species I recognise on one hand. Mya-Rose assures me with a smile that it’s not a problem. “Birdwatching is about going out and looking at birds – it doesn’t need to be more complicated than that,” she says. “You don’t need equipment or cameras. Many people feel they need to be an expert in identifying all the sights and sounds or to know the Latin names of everything.
“But you just need to enjoy being outside in nature and from there you can figure out what you are looking at.”
Handing me a pair of binoculars, she leads me to the dam bordering the north bank corner of the lake. It was created in the 1950s to supply drinking water for Bristol and is the reservoir’s deepest section. Ducks ride rolling waves in the blustery winds as sparrowhawks hover above us in search of a tasty treat. As we look out, Mya-Rose points to crows in nearby treetops; she moves as swiftly as the birds swooping by.
Her dad Chris has always loved birds and introduced his passion to her mother, Helena, first before engaging their two daughters. Yet there is another poignant reason for the family’s pastoral pastime. Helena is a former lawyer who gave up work when Mya-Rose was young after her mental health suffered.
For years, she had undiagnosed bipolar disorder and birdwatching was the family’s way of coping and thriving.
“When my mum was really unwell when I was 10, we made a concerted effort to go out into nature together and it’s how we ended up on these worldwide birdwatching adventures,” says Mya-Rose.
Birdwatching, she explained in memoir, Birdgirl, is her version of mindfulness, the act of staying present in the moment.
“I’m really rubbish about self-care and yoga but when I feel a bit s*** then basically I go birdwatching,” she says. “My dad does that as well so I probably learned it from him.”
When she was younger, her parents tried to make birding “exciting and adventurous, like going on treasure hunts”. But as she has got older, she’s gained more appreciation for the simple pleasures of watching blackbirds and wrens in her garden. It wasn’t the coolest hobby to have as a teenager.
“Probably the hardest period was when I started secondary school and I realised birdwatching was pretty weird,” Mya-Rose admits.
“I had started my activism by that point so I couldn’t even keep it a secret. I was a very awkward child as well, I was self-conscious and shy and I didn’t want unwanted attention.”
Nonetheless, it made her happy so she never stopped.
“As I got older I realised that no one cared what I was doing in my spare time,” she says.
We head across the bridge to join a walking and cycling trail that snakes around the lake for a mile-and-a-half.
There are few rules to birding aside from a reverential appreciation for silence. Mya-Rose’s tip is to learn the shape of beaks or tails first. Before long, she has located a chiffchaff in a cluster of trees.
The grey-brown bird, smaller than a robin, is named after its distinctive call in which it repeatedly chirps the same note before it rises or falls. Spring is when the singing reaches a crescendo.
“A lot of birds get territorial and sing loudly,” Mya-Rose explains.
We soon see a coal tit notable for its black cap and grey feathers. Marsh tits and willow tits, from the same family, are endangered. As are so many others, creating a crisis situation.
Almost half of bird species declined between 2015 and 2020, with woodland birds most affected, recent research revealed. And more than 40 million birds have vanished from UK skies in the last 50 years alone, with farmland birds particularly hit by habitat loss caused by changing agricultural practices.
Our struggling bird populations concern Mya-Rose, who has met Sir David Attenborough, Chris Packham and Greta
Thunberg. Our warming climate is causing insects to emerge too early in the year for nesting birds so food is becoming scarcer.
“It’s so important for people to plant native species in their gardens and have bird feeders, ponds and hedgehog holes,” she says.
While she supports individualism in biodiversity, Mya-Rose urges collective action from governments on climate change.
She’s an Extinction Rebellion member and supportive of radical eco-protests.
But can she understand the growing public anger against disruption?
The last few days have seen incidents where motorists have clashed with protesters and the road blockades are becoming increasingly fractious. Similarly, the blockades have previously prevented ambulances and fire engines responding to emergency calls.
Mya-Rose disputes this.
“I’ve been involved in road blockages in the past and people always let ambulances through,” she says. “But we’re not really trying to get through to people about climate change because it’s a myth that we need them to change their lives and habits.
“We need government change. People occasionally driving a car rather than cycling isn’t what’s destroying the planet.
“It is huge companies pumping out masses of gases into the air, continuously drilling down [into the ground] and overexploiting resources.”
Some might accuse her of hypocrisy as a frequent flyer. She acknowledges her relationship with travelling has shifted but says eco-tourism can help fund schemes that protect endangered wildlife. “I wouldn’t advocate for people who are into nature and the environment to stop going places unless we’re discouraging loggers and palm oil companies from going there,” she says.
Despite her celebrity connections, she is down-to-earth and normal.
What’s it like joining university when you’re already famous?
Her arrival, she remembers, coincided with a promoted advert with her face on it doing the rounds on social media.
“Loads of people had met me once before I popped up on their Instagram feed,” she laughs. “I never had any choice about telling people [who I was]”.
THE heavens open so we dash for cover inside a bird hut for one final look through our binoculars. MyaRose knows some of the others inside and updates them on our sightings as I watch great crested grebes bobbing on the lake. It’s peaceful and calming.
Next up for Mya-Rose is the release of her children’s book, Flight, following the migratory journey of seven birds. It features beautiful illustrations by Lynn Scurfield.
Mya-Rose’s favourite page is the one on hummingbirds. She tasked herself with seeing all 370 varieties when she was eight and has so far seen half.Top of her list is the bee hummingbird, officially the world’s smallest bird.
“It is literally the size of a bee – it’s tiny!” she enthuses.
Incredibly, she has now seen more than 5,500 birds and every moment is a potential spot. “One of the reasons I really like birds is because they’re everywhere,” she smiles.
“I look at them constantly. My mates know that when we’re chatting and I start looking out the window, then I’ve spotted something outside.”
Staying grounded for Birdgirl inevitably means looking to the skies.
● Flight by Mya-Rose Craig, illustrated by Lynn Scurfield (Puffin, £14.99) is published on June 15. To pre-order, visit expressbookshop.com or call 020 3176 3832. Free UK P&P on orders over £25