Birdgirl: A Young Environmentalist Looks to the Skies in Search of a Better Future - book review

 This is an important book 

Birdgirl: A Young Environmentalist Looks to the Skies in Search of a Better Future
by 

Mya-Rose Craig (Goodreads Author)

Sue's review

Dec 21, 2023  ·  edit

bookshelves: biog-memoir, might-read again

This book may appear to be about a girl's love of birds, certainly there are a lot of birds in it, but Birdgirl is far more than that. The young author's parents and sister also love birds and in many ways this love cements the family group in times of stress, pain and illness.

The story is of a girl growing up with a permanently stressed father and a mother who has a serious mental illness. The coming of age happens when the girl finally realises that her mother will never be cured, but will always love her. And when she realises that her calling is to fight for the whole environment, not just for the birds.

And the family's passion for birding, for travelling to the far corners of the world to sit, still and calm for hours waiting for the right bird to appear, is vividly described. And their concentrated joy when the bird appears brings brings tears to the eye.

This is a lovely book, a girl's growing-up story, a tale of birding and mania, travel and depression, racism, sexism and radicalism, enchanting places and enduring friendships.

I felt above all it's a family story because without the love, passion and support of her parents, Mya-Rose Craig might be a much more ordinary young woman. She wouldn't have become who she is today.
Birdgirl is a good read so be patient, you don't need to totally share her passion for birds to find the story fascinating.

Ospreyitis - Part I

Monty nested at Dyfi 2011-2019

One of my favourite activities has begun again in the past couple of weeks, osprey watching! There's 
no osprey nest in Sussex and that's a fact, they're big birds and the county has a large human population, somebody would have noticed, but I'm told a few fly over on their annual migrations. Not that I've ever seen one of those, I do my osprey watching almost entirely online. 

I began in 2014 with the nest at Dyfi Osprey Project, which was one of a few raptor nests with a dedicated webcam. The resident pair, Monty and Glesni were model parents and their efforts at raising their two chicks Deri and Gwynant. The webcam had sound and I learned how loud young ospreys can be when demanding fish from their father, the female chick, Deri was deafening. I occasionally looked in on the Glaslyn webcam, but didn't follow regularly. At the same time I was also watching peregrine falcons in Worcester and a family of kestrels who nested on St Andrews Church in the same city. 

The next year I still watched the Worcester birds and saw Monty and Glesni successfully rear three chicks but I also began also watching the Glaslyn osprey nestcam with the legendary Mrs G.  The Glaslyn nestcam had no sound, but the fascination was episodes of  'Ospenders', watching the battle for the favours of Mrs G, whose mate of 10 years (known as 11/98, his ring number) had failed to return. 

Mrs G was first courted by a young Scottish osprey ringed CU2, who was named Jimmy for obvious reasons. Next to arrive was Blue 80 who was actually one of Mrs G's sons from 2012, but CU2 Jimmy saw him off, then Jimmy left too.  Mrs G laid several eggs but they probably weren't fertile. Then another young male arrived, and stayed. He was named Aran because he had no ring and he raised two chicks with Mrs G that summer.

The following year (2016, keep up!) I followed three osprey nests and gave up on the Worcester peregrines, who weren't nesting, and the Worcester kestrels whose camera had failed.  Mrs G and Aran at Glaslyn and the Rutland Manton Bay pair of Maya and 33/11 all raise three chicks apiece. Monty and Glesni at Dyfi, reared two, although the female chick, Ceri, fell while still a novice flyer and died of her injuries on the nest - drama and heartache.

By now I was totally hooked on these fantastic birds! Osprey are an ancient species of raptor who have evolved as exclusive fish-eaters over many millions of years, they aren't hawks or eagles. They are hugely successful and range over every continent except Antarctica. They were hunted to near extinction in Europe and were extinct in the UK for 50 years. They're now nesting successfully in Scotland, England and Wales.

Monty the Osprey - a true story for children by Susan Gilbert

     Monty was an osprey. He was a clever, strong bird with dark feathers on his back and wings, white feathers on his front and dark stripes across his chestnut brown eyes. When he lifted his neck feathers into a crest at the back, he looked like an eagle in a fairy story. In spring and summer he lived in Wales, in a beautiful valley with hills, trees and green meadows and the River Dyfi flowed through the valley. 

Now, there are three things that all ospreys need and the most important of these three things is fish. Monty only ate fish, he didn’t like anything else. He was a very good fisher-bird, with long, strong legs and sharp, curved claws to grab a fish. He would dive feet first into the River Dyfi to catch trout, sometimes he even went right under water but he didn’t mind getting wet. He flew up from the river and with his powerful wings he could carry a fish almost as heavy as he was. Sometimes for a change Monty flew to the sea to catch different kinds of fish.

The second thing that ospreys need is a nest, and Monty had a good one. There was a high-up platform which some nice people had made for him when he was a young osprey and Monty had built his nest there. Every year the people watched the nest to make sure it was safe.  In April, Monty arrived from Africa, where he spent the winter, and he tidied his nest. He brought big branches and sticks to make the sides strong and plenty of moss and grass to make the centre comfy.

The third thing that every osprey needs is a mate. That’s why Monty made his nest look so comfy, he wanted it to be nice for his mate who was called Glesni.  They had  both been away in Africa and Monty came home first to make the nest ready. He made the nest look splendid, and he waited. He was a very tidy osprey. 

 Monty waited a long time, he was very patient, he knew he had made the nest really nice, but still Glesni didn’t arrive.  She had died in Africa, only Monty didn’t know that, which was very sad. She had been his mate for five years and they’d had lots of lovely chicks, so he really missed her. 

Red Kites - a Success Story

The striking silhouette of a red kite, soaring above a multi-story carpark in High Wycombe. 

This is how most of us will see these birds and if you spend much time driving on the M40 between West London and Birmingham you will certainly see a number of them.  They thrive on roadkill and, having been reintroduced into the Chilterns in 1989, that group have lost no time in adopting human road systems as routes for their own travel.

Four-hundred or more years ago, red kites lived throughout Britain and Ireland and were a common sight even in cities, Shakespeare wrote of them stealing underwear from clotheslines. Kites had and still have diverse appetites, eating carrion, insects, earthworms, small birds, rabbits, rodents and amphibians.  Where they used to scavenge on man-made rubbish and carrion they were often welcomed as useful in cleaning the streets.

 

But one hundred years ago the picture was very different.  By then they had been declared as 'vermin' and even had a bounty on their heads. They had been shot, trapped and poisoned out of existence by head-hunters, landowners, farmers and gamekeepers and their eggs were stolen by collectors.  Other birds of prey were treated with the same arrogant brutality, though most survived in larger numbers than the unfortunate red kites. Only a handful of kites were left in the whole of the British Isles, these were all in the West of Wales. 

 

Today the kites are back. Once they were fully protected, from 1950, the Welsh population  began to expand, though initially quite slowly.  DNA analysis a few years ago showed that the original handful of Welsh kites were all descended from a single female, indicating how precarious their position was.  Now the Welsh birds number in the low thousands, though for scientific purposes birds are usually counted in breeding pairs, so around 900 to 1,000 breeding pairs.  Non-breeding kites can travel long distances and are impossible to count.  

Birds from this successful Welsh population have been used to re-introduce the species to Eire, and Northern Ireland.  Once known in Ireland as 'cloth kites,' due to a propensity to incorporate pieces of pilfered rag into their nests, they were extinct by the turn of the 20th century.  A successful population has now been established in County Wicklow and Dublin. Re-introductions to County Down in Northern Ireland have also been successful and as kites have no concern for national borders these two populations have begun to emerge and expand.  

In England red kites have been re-introduced in groups, using birds originating in Spain and Scandinavia.  The birds were released in the Chilterns, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Yorkshire, Gateshead, Northumberland and the Newcastle area and Grizedale Forest in Cumbria.  From these sites they have spread enthusiastically and if you keep your eyes open, there are kites to be seen gliding elegantly above every English county. 

The Scottish population was initially centred around release sites, the first of these in 1989, was at Black Isle near Inverness.  Others were in Dumfries and Galloway, Stirling-shire, Perthshire, Ross-shire, and near Aberdeen City.  These reintroductions have all been successful, though in places the birds are still being killed, sometimes by accident as when they eat poisoned bait left for foxes, but too often deliberately, by people who like killing things. 

There is no justification for killing kites, which are lightweight birds despite their 5-6 foot wingspans.  They are not strong hunters and feed manly on carrion, worms and insects, with small birds, rabbits, rats and mice if they happen to be able to catch them.  They are little threat to larger farm animals or pets. 

 

All the re-introduced groups have formed breeding populations and the total number in the UK today is around 2,000 pairs, according to the RSPB, who keep a close eye on them.  Still not a huge number of birds, but where they live, they are quite visible and not afraid to fly over towns and cities.  The first kite for 150 years was seen in London in 2006.  

This is a conservation success, unlike in much of Europe where they are declining.  The red kite is a European bird, with around 50,000 birds, few are found elsewhere.  From a handful of kites a hundred years ago, the British Isles is now home to more than 4,000 of these handsome birds, which is a significant percentage of the Total European population.  

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/red-kite/population-trends/

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/shakespeares-red-kite-returns-to-london-after-an-absence-of-150-years-6111922.html

https://irelandswildlife.com/irish-red-kite-breeds-successfully-in-county-wicklow/?share=pocket

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/20/red-kites-thriving-in-england-30-years-after-reintroduction

https://www.livingwithbirds.com/tweetapedia/21-facts-on-red-kite

https://www.irishnews.com/lifestyle/2017/11/25/news/take-on-nature-let-s-go-find-a-kite-1195097/



Landfill by Tim Dee - Book Review

First we must get one thing clear, they are not seagulls they are gulls! They have been encouraged by human activity to live in our towns and inhabit our space, even spaces we don't care about, such as town centre rooftops and landfill sites.

This remarkable, poetic and sorrowful book covers Tim Dee's deep affection, admiration and concern for gulls. Everything you never realised you need to know about these beautiful, slightly alien looking birds, Tim can tell you, or he has a friend who can. He quotes from many erudite enthusiasts. For a start there are many more species of gull than you thought, there are more sub-species than even the most expert gull watchers can identify, and they are still evolving.

An extraordinary chapter tells of Tim's day out at Pitsea landfill site with the North Thames Gull Group. He helps the gullers to net hundreds of gulls feeding on the garbage and ring them before re-release. His description of just handling these birds, the unfamiliarity and intimacy of them, is moving and remarkable.

There are literary gulls, Iceland gulls, feisty gulls, London gulls, ringed gulls, landfill gulls, Bristol gulls, inland gulls and even Jonathan Livingston Seagulls.

Towards the end the book diverges from gulls and landfill and goes in search of a Madagascar nightjar, whose call has never been recorded. While this short chapter seems at first out of place it's a forgivable diversion. The delight of the experience shines through.

The author ends with his encounter with an Iceland gull, near his home.

I could quote from the book, but I wouldn't know where to stop, the writing is beautiful. If you think you don't like gulls, you're really missing a lot.

New Year, New Elephants - poem... because we have to be optimistic. .. or what?

New Year, New Elephants.


No happy new year for unknown warrior-horses

who remember no poppies, only their boon

companions trapped in mud and blood, screaming.           



Ancient koalas watch their gum trees burn and 

remember a new year when they were the first beings

in their gold-red land under the clear, wide sky.



Sir crow, summiting the naked cherry tree

remembers every ruby-fruit and can predict

their re-birth in the joy of summer light.



Lady camel transports vast burdens of memory

over baking deserts, while calculating that

the next dune is not too high for her calf.



Lord elephant remembers his enemy who

carries boom-stick and saw to destroy

his family, fire and axe to destroy his home.



To all creatures great and human I wish

a New Year of fresh eucalyptus, poppy and cherries,

new life, safe haven and making new memories.

*

Rhinoceros - Word of the Day

Today is World Rhino Day. Which has been observed annually on September 22nd since 2010.  
  

The word Rhinoceros comes from Greek, Rhino meaning nose and Keros meaning horn.

We all know what a rhino looks like.  This is an Eastern Black Rhino, living in safety at Port Lympne where they have a breeding program which is contributing to the survival of this endangered species. But all 5 existing species of rhino are endangered, most of them critically. 


All the Rhinoceros on earth are the survivors of populations of many millions, in dozens of species, which once lived all over Europe, Asia, Africa and Northern America. Now there are less than 30,000 rhinos on earth. 
figures from-
www.savetherhino.org/rhino-info/population-figures/

The rhino's problem lies in that nose horn, and the madness of the situation lies in the word Keros - from which we get Keratin. This is the root of the rhino's problem. Keratin from their horns is believed by many people to have almost magical curative properties, particularly for high fever.  

Keratin has no scientifically proven curative properties of any sort, whether from rhino horn, cows' hoof or human fingernails. So once all the Rhinoceros have been exterminated people who hold this belief will at least be able to chew their own fingernails. It will cost them a lot less than rhino horn and will have exactly the same effect.

Palm Oil, Why is it in Almost Everything I Try to Buy?!

Does bread and breakfast cereal need to contain Palm oil? What about peanut butter and lemon meringue pie? Or toothpaste, or shampoo? Of course not, so why the hell is it there?? Companies who claim that their palm oil is sustainably sourced are very seldom telling the truth; they either don't know and take someone else's word for it, or they more likely don't care. Forest destruction and the slaughter of wildlife continues, while they are still filling almost every product we can buy with unnecessary palm oil.

On a recent journey I was thirsty. Stopped at the small Tunbridge Wells service station on the A21 and nearly bought a bottle of M & S sparkling Florida Orange drink. But saw in time that it contains palm oil so put it back. Why a soft drink of any kind needs to contain oil, let alone palm oil, is beyond my comprehension. What was in them before palm oil became the go to ingredient for every manufactured product in the universe? Palm oil comes from the nut, palm kernel oil which is used in soaps etc comes from the outer layer around the nut. 

So, when did palm oil become ubiquitous? Not before the 1960's. I understand that the oil palm tree - Scientific name: Elaeis guineensisis - originated in West Africa, where it's been used by humans for four or five thousand years. But don't blame Africa, the continent itself uses all the palm oil grown there. Its spread to Indonesia and Malaysia began in the nineteenth century, introduced by colonial Europeans from The Netherlands and Britain. However it wasn't until the 60's that oil palm plantations in the Far East began to spread beyond what had previously been rubber plantations and onto land carved and burned out of the rainforests.

The oil palm is an easily cultivated, highly productive tree and creates more usable oil from its nuts than any other tree on the planet. So it's cheap, easily available and who cares about the orang-utans, or the forest ecosystems, or the carbon released into the atmosphere by their destruction? Not the companies producing and exporting the oil, that's for sure. And we're to blame for encouraging them.

Gerald Durrell; the Authorised Biography by Douglas Botting - book review

Gerald Durrell has been one of my favourite authors since I read The Bafut Beagles when I was nine and I've always admired his determination to conserve endangered species, the little, un-noticed creatures more than the spectacular, headline-grabbing ones. Douglas Botting's biography was approved by his family and presents a detailed and unflinching portrait of this charismatic, driven and creative man. GD wasn't a saint or any kind of paragon, he was a high functioning alcoholic and could have lived so much longer. His remarkable achievements have altered the way endangered species are appreciated and conserved. His Jersey Zoo is a model for conservationist worldwide and his books are many and varied. All this Douglas Botting catches with zest and a plainly enormous quantity of research. The details of GD's final illness are not for the faint hearted but are honest. My only qualms are with the way the treatment of Jacquie, GD's first wife, seem to be glossed over. Otherwise this is a fascinating read for any GD fan, and for anybody interested in how attitudes to conservation have progressed since the 1950's.

the Fairweather Gardener - Mini Beasties in May

Plenty of bees around now which is good, my foxgloves are just flowering and the bees love them. Also hover flies around, which are not only good pollinators but have nice fierce larvae, which the same as ladybird larvae will happily munch through loads of aphids. I like hover flies.

Male orange tip feeding on cranesbill flowers

Early in the month the butterflies began to appear, the first one I saw was an orange tip, flew up from the geraniums and away over the wall. They're quite unmistakeable, or the males are, the females are more discreet and have no orange tips, so they look more or less like another white butterfly.

Next, there were a few nests of untidy silk with small caterpillars in them. The first one I found was on the car, which was a bit weird. Then one or two appeared in the garden on the apple tree and I started finding small brown hairy caterpillars in random places. I wasn't worried until the cat sitting on my lap suddenly stood up and stated intently at my shoulder. I found a caterpillar on my collar, I just brushed it off, but too late. I came up in a horribly itchy rash all round my neck! Online I found a few hysterical headlines about toxic caterpillars. I took a closer look at mine, they're brown tail moth caterpillars, not toxic, they just have irritating hairs. So I kept away from the apple tree until they had dispersed.

Brown tail moth nest with caterpillars hatching -

photo from the Forestry Commission

Loads of ants, there are some tiny ones living under the patio by the house, which is fine, they excavate little piles of sand and I don't mind, I just sweep it away from their holes and down between some other stones. But I do have to discourage them from coming into the conservatory, found several in the cat's food bowl. Am keeping the floor cleaner and have blocked a couple of small holes from the outside. It's working so far.

Lily beetles mating on the stem of my fritillaries -

blooming cheek!

My current garden infestation is spiders - tiny ones just hatched out and clustering in small mobs in unexpected corners. Slightly larger, more independent minded ones are hanging out all over the clothes lines. My laundry will soon be covered in silk or, more problematically, the remains of dead flies etc. I do have a bit of a spider phobia, but can live alongside them most of the time without freaking out.

Every time I move a flowerpot the woodlice hurtle around in panic and sometimes a few springtails too. I just let them disperse, they're quite harmless. Wish I could say the same about the snails. There are hundreds, I sometimes gather them in handfuls and lob them into the vacant, nettle filled lot behind the house, but I know its a waste of time.

None of the creatures in my garden are going to be fed or sprayed with anything toxic, not even the pretty scarlet lily beetles which have devastated my poor fritillaries this year.

Shape of the Beast

Chew

grass is bad now

smells not sweet

grass is dry now

taste of dust

sticks to tongue 

Not filling hunger

Smell 

smell of Acacia tree 

tree here good 

makes shade from hottest sun

between nights.

Tree makes food shade 

Smells of gerenuk

so no leaves to reach up

in the sand 

fallen leaves fallen fruit

good good fruit sweet chewy 

plenty fruit fill hunger…

fill...

fill…

Itch

itch on shoulder

no tick birds here

Acacia tree here

good for scratching…

gooood for scratching...

Listen 

Distant

Small roar not of lions

lions are beyond the hill

small rumble

not of elephants…

rumble bigger…

not stampede of wildebeest 

no wildebeest when ground is driest…

Turn 

turn from tree

face ears to sound…

listen more...

smell more...

taste the air...

Rumble not of rhino

no smell of rhino…

rumble and chatter clatter…

not monkeys…

not porcupine…

not wind, no wind, much heat

chatter of hyena...

Louder

smell of…

smell of… 

smell of the long black track beyond the lion hill

The beasts of the black track are here 

beasts that roar and sting

beasts that kill lions

kill elephants

kill  

Turn

face them 

Face Them 

Rumble not of thunder,

smell of the long black track

shape of the rumbling beast  chatter clatter

Flashes
flashes not of lightening

Face the beast 

Horn down…

CHARGE...