About Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

I am Mya-Rose Craig, also known as “Birdgirl”.  I am 12 years old and live in Compton Martin near Chew Valley Lake.  That is on the edge of the Mendips and just South of Bristol.  

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig twitching Isles of Scilly 2013
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

I love birds and wildlife and care about conservation and the environment.  I believe we have to do everything we can to save the environment from damage and I want to try and persuade people about that. 

I am interested in birding, twitching, local patch birding, garden birding (yard birding), birding ringing (bird banding), world birding, conservation, protecting the environment, wildlife including mammals, whales, dolphins, insects and ants, nature, writing, blogging, poetry, Spanish, biology and Ancient Mythology (we went to Egypt in December 2013 to go to ancient sites there).

I like looking at birds in my garden and birding locally.  I look at birds in my garden from our upstairs window.  It is lovely to watch them and it is exciting when you get special birds come in, like Marsh Tit and Bullfinch.  When I go birding locally in Somerset, I am lucky because we have lots of good places to go: Chew Valley and Blagdon Lakes, Cheddar Resevoir, The Mendip Hills and The Somerset Levels, where I have seen otters skating on ice.  It is great to see the birds change with the seasons.  I am very lucky to have so many amazing birding places so close by.  That is the reason my parents moved here from Bristol.  There are also brilliant birding places like WWT Slimbridge about an hours drive away, so we can be spoilt for choice as to where to go birding.

I go bird ringing (bird banding) at Chew Valley Lake Ringing Station, which is really good for improving birding and detailed bird identification skills like about moult.  I have been going bird ringing (bird banding) since September 2011 and I hope to become a trainee Bird Ringer (Bird Bander) soon.

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig holding a teal, whilst ringing (banding) Chew Valley Ringing Station, September 2011
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

I also go twitching which is a lot of fun, especially if the bird is attractive.  It is a "habit" I just can't kick and my UK 400 British list is now 437.  My last new bird was Franklin's Gull at WWT Llanelli Wetland Centre in April 2014.  I hope to get to 450 on my British list some time in 2015.

What I love most is going World Birding.  I am very lucky to be able to go birding abroad once or twice a year.  These are really tough world birding trips but really rewarding.  My World bird list is currently 3383 with a trip to Malaysia and Borneo planned for the summer and my next target is 5,400 (half the World's birds) but that is going take a few years.  I want to volunteer abroad when I am older.

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Kakum National Park, Ghana, January 2012
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

I have some amazing framed rarity photos in my room, taken by my birder friend, Mark Rayment.  It’s lovely to look at photos of Siberian Rubythroat and Pine Grosbeak everyday. 

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig twitching a Pine Grosbeak, Shetland Islands, February 2013
Photograph taken by and copyright Mark Rayment

I also love reading books and always have a book with me, including books to do with birding, especially stories about world birding like The Biggest Twitch, which made me laugh out loud.

Sir Peter Scott is my hero; he did loads of amazing things, like setting up WWT and WWF, as well as being a great bird artist.

Sir Peter Scott
Photograph courtesy of  WWF

I would love to meet David Attenborough.  He is a legend and has achieved so much, getting ordinary people to be interested in nature, birds and animals.  I would also like to meet Bill Oddie, as he has made birding fun.

I want to be like Steve Backshall when I am older: going to remote places to look for new species.