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| Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, BBC Springwatch set Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
This is my interview on Iplayer http://bbc.in/1GRc1hW
Dad and I left my Gran's caravan in the northern Lakes at 8.00 am. We had travelled to Scotland on Saturday to visit Scotland's Big Nature Festival, where I gave a talk on Sunday morning. A highlight had been watching Bill Oddie walk past!
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, RSPB Scottish Birdfair
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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He then headed back to the Lakes for a day of rest before travelling again. We were travelling south east, to pick up Mum from Cambridge Train Station at midday. She hadn't been able to come to Scotland with us because of my cousin's wedding.
We had loads of traffic, so were almost an hour late for mum. I had a little present from her - she had bought me a Serious Black wanted poster print from the Harry Potter Shop at Kings Cross Train Station.
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| My new Serious Black (from Harry Potter) print from King Cross Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
It was 3.00 pm when we arrived at Minsmere RSPB Reserve, the home of BBC Springwatch for the last 2 years. It had been a seven hour journey for me but when we arrived, there was a lovely surprise.
Almost immediately, we bumped into our great friend, Gary Prescott, The Biking Birder. It was the first time we’d seen him since the Citrus Finch twitch 3 weeks before, when we were in a bit of a hurry to see the bird so didn't stop for long. Dad and I had seen him being interviewed that morning on Springwatch Extra, before starting our journey.
Gary is doing a green Big Year, on his bicycle and at the same time is visiting every RSPB and WWT in Britain. He is writing a blog about his year, http://bit.ly/1AGDEcC and read about him on http://on.fb.me/1KIMn1a where you can donate money to his chosen charities for the year.
We immediately hit it off again as Gary noticed my Ramones T-Shirt and wanted to know if I was 'a poser or a lover'. When I said I loved the Ramones, he told me about a tiny Ramones museum in Berlin.
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Gary Prescott, Biking Birder and Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, Minsmere RSPB Reserve
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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After a long chat and a few photos, it was time for us to rush off to the BBC area and we would see him later as he was appearing on Springwatch Unspring and we were going to be in the audience.
We then went to the Springwatch enclosure, where we were greeted by a researcher, Libby Prins. She made me feel at ease and brought Lindsey Chapman over to meet me, who was going to be interviewing me. I rarely get nervous but it did help that we had a chat about the interview and she made me feel a bit more relaxed. It was an amazing experience and it was
really interesting to see everything going on behind the scenes on the set.
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, BBC Springwatch set
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, BBC Springwatch set
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, BBC Springwatch set
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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Libby took me to the trailer where my interview was being filmed and gave me a
briefing. She also showed me around the trailer, which was full of screens and equipment as well as lots of people working on the show. It was all really interesting to see.
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, BBC Springwatch Trailer
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, BBC Springwatch Trailer
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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Stephen Le Quesne (producer and far left, BBC Springwatch Trailer
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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After a tense wait that seemed to stretch
on for hours (but in reality was about 10 minutes long) it was time. Mum went into the trailer with me, but was out of my view. I was introduced at the start of the show, then interviewed after a 10 minute look at what had been filmed that day. I answered all the questions as best I could and I hope it went okay, but to me honest, it’s a little bit of a blur.
This is my interview on BBC Iplayer http://bbc.in/1GRc1hW. I will try and put it on U-tube soon.
After my interview, I felt a lot more relaxed. Gary arrives, so we carried on with our conversations and had dinner with everyone else in the food tent. Anna Gallagher, The Springwatch Producer, came in to say a quick hello. It was nice to see a friendly face, as I had met Anne in the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol at the beginning of the year.
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Chris Craig, Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig and Gary Prescott, BBC Springwatch set
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, BBC Springwatch set
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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I had seen Michaela Strackan a couple of times that afternoon and said hello but I didn't try and stop her to chat. Then Chris Packham came into the food tent. Gary introduced me to him (having met him that morning) as a young person who had done lots of world birding. Chris was really kind and stopped for quite a long chat, asking me if I had seen various really rare birds from around the world which invariably neither of us had seen! One of them was Snow Petrel though, which I hope to see in Antarctica this Christmas.
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig Gary Prescott and Chris Packham, BBC Springwatch set
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan, BBC Springwatch set
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose and Chris Packham, BBC Springwatch set
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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We also met Stephen Le Quesne who works on Springwatch. He is involved in Durrell Wildlife Conservation and so it was great to tell them about the welcoming team I had met in Bath and the wonderful projects they are involved in.
Next, we all watched Springwatch on the big screens before going into the studio to be in the audience for Springwatch Unsprung. Gary was interviewed along with James Logan a mosquito expert who one of my more gory stories to, which he didn't bat an eye to.
Look out for me in the audience http://bbc.in/1BEuXKN
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Helena Craig and Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, outside Springwatch Studio
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig
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After the show, Dad was quick and got a photograph with Gary and me on "The Sofa" and then me alone. I'd love to sit on it for real one day...
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig and Gary Prescott, BBC Springwatch Studio
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig and Gary Prescott, BBC Springwatch Studio
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig
About the writer
Mya-Rose Craig is a 13 year old young birder, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol, UK and blogs about birding and conservation from around the world. Wader conservation is important to her and she is Ambassador to the global wader initiative World Shorebird Day. She is looking forward to Mountain Gorilla trekking this summer in East Africa and to watching penguins in Antarctica in December, her 7th continent. She has recently been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter.
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