Written by Lisa Chilton, NBN Trust CEO
We all know that establishing a new habit takes time, discipline, and sustained repetition. As summer drifted into autumn, I noticed that my new hobby – recording and sharing wildlife sightings to create data for nature conservation – had not yet become a habit. While I’m enjoying taking and uploading impromptu snaps of wildlife when the mood strikes me, my activity is pretty sporadic. I try to reassure myself that any new wildlife data is better than none – which is, of course, true – but if I’m honest I’d anticipated that, by this time in the year, I’d be doing more. Yes, I’m juggling a busy job and family life, but that’s not going to change any time soon. I need to get better at making room in my life to embed recording as a lifelong habit.
Rather than beat myself up about it, I decided to seek further inspiration and learning. First, I took part in an online course on Wading Bird Identification presented by Ben Darvill and Steve Willis of the British Trust for Ornithology. I’m fortunate to live close to the Ythan (rhymes with ‘python’) Estuary, an internationally important wetland site, but my wader ID skills are very poor. I can manage Oystercatchers and Curlews – and if I ever bumped into an Avocet I’d know what to call it – but beyond that it’s all a blur of long legs, thin beaks and assorted shades of brown and grey. This was a terrific opportunity to upskill and give me an extra reason (though I shouldn’t need one) to enjoy frequent coastal walks.
The course did an excellent job of demystifying waders and giving lots of handy ID tips. Rather than being too distracted by plumage, for example, which can be misleading, you should focus first on the structure of the bird (size, shape, relative proportions) and become very familiar with a few ‘reference species’ that you can then use for comparison (“It’s bigger than a Dunlin but smaller than a Redshank”). Drawing mini ‘caricatures’ to help distinguish similar species is also really helpful. Most memorable of all, though, I learned a mind-blowing new fact: that waders’ long slender beaks are flexible, and the tip is under muscular control – they can bend and wiggle their beaks at will!
Next up was a free Freshwater Invertebrates session run by Suzanne Burgess at Buglife. This was a practical, hands-on workshop aiming to recruit and gear-up volunteers to take part in regular river surveys. We learned how to take water samples and identify invertebrates into basic groups. It was great fun, and I came away inspired to get more involved in structured recording projects. I might even ‘adopt’ my own riverside survey location as part of the Riverfly Partnership.
These two courses were a timely reminder that I’m not doing this alone. There are local and national communities of wildlife recorders and trainers who we can all look to for inspiration, learning, and sometimes company too. I’m still a beginner, and it’s not yet habitual, but my recording adventure continues.