Why I owe Buzzards

At Birds on the Brink we are inspired by birds and it’s great to know we are not alone. Here, award-winning writer James Lowen shares a personal perspective on his love for birds.

by James Lowen

I can't remember a time when I haven't watched birds. My Dad reckons it all started on a South Devon country lane, shrouded by steepling hedgerows. I was three, still toddling but nevertheless clearly watchful. A big bird appeared in the sky, prompting little Lowen to ask what it was. 

 "A crow" my father replied.  "No, it's not, Daddy. It's too big" insisted the precocious fledgling birdwatcher. 

Caption: A Carrion Crow, a case of mistaken identity on the part of ‘little Lowen’s’ father. Photo ©Paul Sterry/Nature Photographers Ltd

The episode prompted my father to buy a bird book. Little Lowen was right; it wasn’t a crow. It was a Buzzard. Back then, in the 1970s, Common Buzzards were almost exclusively the preserve of south-west England. Four decades later, this marvellous raptor has spread throughout Britain. The Common Buzzard represents a rare good-news story in a broadcast narrative otherwise monopolised by the declines and extinctions that prompted the formation of the charity Birds on the Brink.

Birds have riffed through my life ever since. I cannot remember a single day when I have not seen at least one bird – maybe just a glimpse of gull or pigeon above the concrete jungle that suffocated my former existence in London. But nevertheless, a bird. Other wildlife you need to purposefully search for. But birds just are. You bump into them, wherever and whenever, regardless of whether you are looking for them or not.

Birds do not merely texture our lives. They change them too. White-tailed Eagles on the Hebridean island of Mull contribute £5 million to local coffers every year; ‘flying barn doors’ underpin numerous livelihoods. Worldwide, three million international trips are made each year (or were prior to Covid-19) for the main purpose of birdwatching: that’s a lot of ecotourist dollars that, until just recently, benefited impoverished communities and will do so again once ‘normal’ life resumes. 

Birds have changed my life too. It is because of birds that I have lived in rainforests and worked in Antarctica. It is thanks to birds that I earn a crust as a writer and stave-off the winter doldrums that rock my mental health. I owe birds.

Caption: A Common Buzzard soaring over West County uplands, a source of inspiration for James Lowen, both in youth and in adulthood. Photo ©Paul Sterry/Nature Photographers Ltd

But above all, I love birds. I love them for their profusion, their variety, their resilience, their audacity, their wonder. Soaring seabird colonies with rock skyscrapers windowed with Puffins and Shags and Kittiwakes. Herring Gulls making a new life for themselves in seaside towns. A woodland before dawn, filled with song before light. A Red-throated Diver calling mournfully on a remote Scottish loch. A Bittern breathing over the neck of a reedbed beer bottle. And above all a Buzzard soaring free in the air above my home. 

James Lowen is an award-winning writer focusing on nature, conservation and travel. He blogs at jameslowen.com and tweets as @JLowenWildlife.