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.  



12 comments:

  1. Dear Mya, I really like your website and think your ambitions are brilliant. Of all the lovely photos on your website, I think that the ones of the Kingfishers are my favourites - the colours of the birds' plumage is amazing. When I was your sort of age, I used to like to draw birds of prey, with the Peregrine Falcon my favourite - partly because of its great markings and partly because of how fast it can fly! Keep up all the good work - I think it so good and so important that young people like you care about and are proactive about conservation. Keep up all the good work! :)) Best wishes, Tony (Tony Day - I know your mum)

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    1. Thanks Tony doe your lovely comment. It's always hard to choose a favourite species but kingfishers are definitely in my top families.

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  2. How can I email you? You are an amazing young lady.

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  3. Hi Maz, thanks for your comment. You can e-mail my Mum on helenabcraig@hotmail.co.uk as I'm not good at looking at my e-mails! Also, you can message me on my Facebook Page www.facebook.com/myarosebirdgirlcraig?ref=hl

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  4. Dear Mya-Rose Craig

    We have nothing to say but we can just thank you for this great Job. Wish you all the best and we will always support you. We have a Child Organization called chotoderbondhu (ছোটদেরবন্ধু) that means friends for the childrens, we welcome you to join us on facebook and we want that you will share all of your thoughts and Views with us.

    Dear Mya go on and one day we will see that you have done many thing for the wild life. be very happy

    Our Facebook Page www.facebook.com/chotoderbondhu2

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    1. Dear Zahid Bhai, thank you for your kind comments. I will definitely like the facebook page you have sent me the link for and am interested to see what other young people have been doing.

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  5. Dear My-Rose

    I am very impressed with your Blog , your passion for wildlife is obvious and its great to hear that Steve Backshall is a role model for you.

    Yours
    James Brickell ( director on Deadly 60 and neighbour of yours in the Chew Valley )

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    1. Hi James, Wow - thanks for looking at my blog and thank you so much for your lovely comments. Have you seen by "Tales from Birdgirl" column in the Chew Valley Gazette? It's to know you live close by. I think Deadly 60 is the best thing ever for the future of our world's wildlife. Virtually all under 10's watch it and I've seen every episode on repeat. It has connected a whole generation with nature. I went to see Steve Backhall and Deadly 60 live at the Old Vic, Bristol in 2012, just after I got back from 6 months of being home schooled and birding in South America. It felt hard being back as most of my friends hadn't even heard of Colombia or Bolivia let alone know where they were. Then we went to see Steve and afterwards he asked everyone to put up their hands and say what their favorite animals were and instead of the usual Panda and Tiger (which I know both are need of helping) kids were putting up their hands and saying things like Snow Leopard and Komodo Dragon. I think there will be a whole generation who when they grow up will be interested in saving wildlife from extinction, just because they know what they are and will have happy memories of your show. Then Steve gave us some advice,,,,he said that if we wanted to do what he did then we needed to have the scientific knowledge about animals but also needed to learn as many adventure skills as possible, maybe by going to Scouts and Guides and learning everywhere we could. He said that we needed to learn to climb, canoe, kayak, cave and anything else that might help us on an expedition. I have really taken that advice to heart and have done climbing, canoeing, kayaking, caving, diving, snorkeling, hiking, camping and lots of other adventure activities. Thanks very much and if you see you see Steve Backshall, say thanks from me.

      I have also arranged Camp Avalon for 19, 20, 21 June 2015, a weekend for young birders on the Somerset Levels. I know you are probably busy, but if you were free for a couple hours it would be great if you would speak about the programme, as our Key Note Speaker. Just if you happened to be free. Thanks again.

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  6. Hi, I am inspired by all your interesting finds and I am happy that I'm not alone in being a young girl birder! :-) I am working on improving my list and I hope it can be as large as yours someday. Also, I have not been out of my country birding ever, so could you give me some advice on where the best places to go birding exotically are? Also, I feel the same way about saving the environment and agree that we need to help animals and the environment. :-) I love your blog, too! It is very inspiring.

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  7. Hi, nice meeting you Mya-Rose. I am a bird lover too. So much that I have noticed they always flock around my dwelling. They are simple & honest beings & there is so much to learn from them! Accept my good wishes, I hope you live a wonderful life enchanted by the wings they give to you existence.

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  8. I find your blog really inspirational to read because I only got interested in birds at 9. We live in a place with amazing wildlife but up till then I never felt a connection but ever since I've seen 152 different species, found a couple of rare ones and starting to learn about the anatomy of birds and starting ringing. I hope in the future I can achieve something as good as you have done. When I am older I want to work as an ornithologist but I am only 12.

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Thank you for posting a comment. Please can you make sure that it is positive and is about me or my blog and not about promoting you or your business. Thanks. Mya-Rose Craig