Birdgirl

I am Birdgirl and I live in the Chew Valley near to Chew Valley Lake. It is on the edge of the Mendips and just South of Bristol, UK. I am 15 years old and am in Year 10 at Chew Valley School and really like it there (that's 9th year at USA High School).

I love birds and wildlife. I also care about conservation and the environment.

I am the Ambassador for World Shorebirds Day, an international bird conservation initiative who celebrate waders each year on 6th September. I was also a Bristol European Green Capital 2015 Ambassador which is a huge award. I was also listed as one of Bristol's more influential young people 2014 along with singer songwriter George Ezra and Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams.

I am also a Charter Champion for The Charter for Woods, Trees and People and an Ambassador for See it Her Way, who aim to give a platform to women and girls to represent themselves and tell their stories through photography.

I am interested in Birding, Twitching, Local Patch Birding, Garden Birding, (Yard Birding), Bird Ringing, (Bird Banding), World Birding, Conservation, Environment, Activism, Wildlife, including Mammals, Whales, and, Dolphins, Nature, Writing, Poetry, Spanish, Biology, and, Ancient Mythology.

I believe that we have to do everything we can to save the environment from damage and I want to try and persuade people about that.

I love watching at birds in my garden and it is exciting when you get special birds come in, like Marsh Tit. I bird locally and am lucky as we have lots of good places to go.

I have been going bird ringing (bird banding) since September 2011 at Chew Valley Ringing Station. I have my trainee licence and am learning a lot about detailed identification (e.g. moult). I hope to get my full licence when I am 16 years old. I also love World Birding and usually go on two trips a year.

I also love reading books and always have a book with me, including books to with birding, especially stories about world birding like The Big 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.

I was privileged to meet Sir David Attenborough. He is a legend and has achieved so much, getting ordinary people to be interested in nature, birds and animals. I also loved meeting Chris Packham, Bill Oddie, Steve Backshall, Michaela Strachan and Mike Dilger. It was particularly great to meet Bill Oddie as he made birding interesting and fun.

I would like to be like Steve Backshall when I am older: going to remote places to look for new species.