I've been birdwatching for over 25 years now, and have been a member of the RSPB for most of that period. Some of my birding highlights came while working as a volunteer warden at RSPB Dungeness. It was a particularly cold winter, and all of the pools were frozen, allowing fantastic views of bitterns and water rail which were forced to venture out onto the ice in search of food. 

 

Most of my birding has been centred on south-east England, along the coasts of Kent and Sussex, awash with waders in the winter, or among the wonderful heaths of Surrey, watching hobbies hawking for dragonflies. My European birding has taken me to the wilderness areas of Spain, watching bustards on the steppe of Extremadura, and wallcreepers in the Boca del Infierno in the Spanish Pyrenees. However, the main highlight of my birding life came at the ripe old age of 48 when I ventured beyond Europe for the first time. Realising a childhood dream inspired by a David Attenborough documentary I'd seen as a member of the XYZ Club at London Zoo, I ventured into the Costa Rican rainforest and saw my first hummingbirds, on a tour lead by the brilliant and aptly named Steve Bird, now with Zoothera Birding. I was like a child in a sweetshop! A few years later, drawn back to see more, I gazed in amazement at the iridescent wonder of the violet-tailed sylph hummingbird in Ecuador. 

 

The CD 'Songs about Birds', however, celebrates our British birds, from the omnipresent blackbird in the garden, to the dazzling kingfisher on our rivers, to the majestic red kites in our skies. We cannot equal the rainforest for biodiversity but we are blessed in the UK with some amazing birds....and not just birds. As a member of the Kent Wildlife Trust and the Orpington Field Club, my wife and I have been discovering the wonderful orchids, wild flowers, butterflies (and moths!), dragonflies and fungi of this beautiful corner of England. What a wealth of wonderful wildlife there is out there, waiting to be discovered. 

 

As well as avidly watching nature documentaries as a child, I also grew up listening to the Beatles, Beach Boys, Hollies, Simon and Garfunkel, and Crosby, Stills and Nash. I loved their harmonies, and when I started writing songs in my late teens, I wove harmonies into them in an attempt to emulate my musical heroes. As for a sound and style, I love the folky sound of Fairport Convention and Crowded House, and the sheer, haunting beauty of the vocals of Sandy Denny and Neil Finn. 

 

I have never seen an albatross but for me they stand for everything that is appealing about birds. Their effortless grace as they glide across the waves on near four metre wingspans; the wild and remote locations with which they are associated. What a tragedy it would be if these endangered birds were to become extinct. The only song on the CD not about a British bird, 'Wandering Albatross' draws attention to the sad plight of these ocean giants, and to the RSPB's 'Save the Albatross' campaign www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/campaigns/albatross. Please click on the link to learn more.

 

Closer to home, many of our farmland, woodland and migrant birds are suffering catastrophic declines in their numbers. The swift, starling and willow warbler are three of our declining migrant species, celebrated in song on the CD. Let's hope they will continue to visit our shores in years to come. I hope that 'Songs about Birds' will indeed 'make you take a closer look at the wildlife around you' (Birdwatching Magazine Dec. 2012), and inspire you to protect and to nurture it.