Great Knot in RSPB Titchwell Reserve

On Sunday 19 June 2016 we travelled to RSPB Titchwell reserve to see a Great Knot.  It was a fairly straight forward twitch, as the bird was on one of the pools most of the time we were there.

It is always nice to get across to Norfolk and do a bit of birding before we came back.

This was my fourth new bird of the year and a great one to see. Great Knot are from Asia and also a bird you see in Australia, so a bird I could identify without any problem as I have seen it few times abroad including in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.

Great Knot twitch Titchwell, NorfolkTaken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Great Knot twitch Titchwell, Norfolk
Taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Great Knot twitch Titchwell, Norfolk
Taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Great Knot twitch Titchwell, Norfolk
Taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Great Knot twitch Titchwell, Norfolk
Taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

About the Author

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig in Antarctica
Photograph copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 14 year old young British Bangladeshi birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and Penguins in Antarctica over Christmas 2015, her 7th continent.

Mya-Rose was a Bristol European Green Capital Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol Ambassadors. She has also 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. She organised a conference in June 2016 aiming to increase the ethnic diversity in nature. Please connect with her on LinkedIn (Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig) so that she can invite you to join the Race Equality in Nature LinkedIn Group and be part of the change. Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter

Wader poem for Wader Quest

In July I wrote a poem about waders for Wader Quest.   This is an extract from their July 2015 Newsletter.

Wader Quest - Newsletter July 2015

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Hudsonian Godwit twitch
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Waders : A poem by Mya-Rose “Birdgirl” Craig


Long legs
lots of different colours:
brown, grey, black
many species of waders.

They wade into the water
for bugs in the muddy marshes.
The beetles are their favourite!
Beady black eyes,
long bills,
pointy bills,
curly bills,
to probe the mud for lunch!

Long, thin or fat bodies,
waders vary,
their call is theirs
no sound bite to copy.

Humans drain the wet
lands to reclaim
land for themselves.
So your habitat is in danger, waders 

Yes, you are endangered! 

Dedicated to Wader Quest By Mya-Rose Craig, Birdgirl In collaboration with Ita O'Donnell

Hudsonian Godwit, Meare Heath, Somerset Levels
Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Postscript

7-8 November 2015 was Wader Conservation World Watch, which I took part in seeing a Purple Sandpiper. These are a couple a pages out of the Wader Quest special Newsletter:

About the Writer

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig 

Mya-Rose Craig is a 13 year old young birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and is looking forward to watching Penguins in Antarctica in December 2015, which will be her 7th continent. 

Mya-Rose is a Bristol European Green Capital 2015 Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol 2015 Ambassadors. She has also 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

World Shorebirds Day, 6th September 2015 - First Guest Blog

Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Sonadia Island, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Baz Scampion 

As well as being a young ornithologist, conservationist, writer and speaker, I am also Ambassador for World Shorebirds Day.

I have chosen to champion World Shorebirds Day because it is an organisation that celebrates waders (shorebirds) and those trying to conserve them each 6th September. The day is to show how important bird surveying is so that people who don’t normally count birds can improve and that the number involved worldwide increases. 

2014 was the first World Shorebirds Day event, with 413 birders taking part. Of the 225 waders on the IOC world list, 123 were seen worldwide. It would be really great if we can increase the numbers taking part and make it the first huge global birding event.

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, Sonadia Island, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

I have a real connection and love of waders. They are my dad, Chris Craig’s favourite bird groups and through years of watching and studying them, he is amazing at identifying them. That love for waders has rubbed off on me.

Read my first blog on the World Shorebirds Day website posted on 19th February 2015, http://bit.ly/18UVWu4.

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, talking about Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Dhaka
Photograph taken and copyright Helena Craig
Photograph in the background taken by and copyright Baz Scampion

About the writer

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly

Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 12 year old young birder, conservationist, writer and speaker.    She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world.  She was the youngest person to see 3,000 birds in 2013 and she hopes to see her 4,000^th bird in Antarctica, her 7^th continent, in 2015.  Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter