The voice for birding and its mental health benefits

Mya-Rose Craig is a 19-year-old birder and campaigns for equal access to nature for minority ethnic people through her charity Black2Nature. Her book, We Have a Dream (Magic Cat) has just been published.

My parents made nature fun for me. I was adventurous and they encouraged me to explore landscapes – at the beach, I’d hand them my binoculars and clamber off across the rocks. All my earliest memories are of birding – I remember being three, out on a boat in Madeira, and watching gulls fly out, seeing dolphins and turtles as the sun set. Birding was the focus of everything in our family. When I was a kid, I was energised going into it; these days it’s the reverse – I get energy from it. I go outdoors for the peace and the quiet, the separation from daily life.

When I’m birding, I notice details – instead of the tree I’m looking at the hole in it, wondering what’s in there. Lately I’ve been learning birdsong and a whole new dimension has opened – I notice and feel more. I particularly like chiff chaff song, which has a spring note to it, and the distinctive drumming of woodpeckers. Birding doesn’t have to be an ‘active’ activity, you just have to keep an eye out. You don’t even have to be outside – I’m always watching our garden nest box and feeder from the window – but I’m lucky enough to live in the Somerset countryside, and try and walk every day for my mental health.

Interviewing people for my podcast, Get Birding, I learned that 30 minutes outdoors once a week massively lessens the chance of getting depression. Lockdown has been tough, especially on those living in the inner city. Through the podcast I wanted to give people the information needed to get started with birding, which in turn might help their mental health. For a lot of people, there’s a real ‘rise and grind’ culture – many feel guilty, taking time for themselves – but being outdoors and spending time in nature is one of the few things that can’t be commercialised. It’s separate from everyday life in a very literal way.

Nature is so important, which is why I started my charity Black2Nature when I was 13. We work with kids from a minority ethnic background, living in deprived or urban areas, and give them an opportunity to spend time in the countryside. If people don’t know nature and the outdoors, if they haven’t learnt to love it or experience it, they have no reason to care about what happens to it. On our first camp, I remember five boys from Bristol who didn’t want to be there chatting with a volunteer – he compared peregrine falcons to Formula One racing and they were immediately interested. All it took was that one moment. »