Mya-Rose Craig: The Young Birdwatcher Changing the World

Sam, AFC Ambassador
Mar 7
4 min read

Picture in your mind a professional birdwatcher. What do you see? Maybe an older person with binoculars, a notebook, and a flask of tea. But what if I told you that one of the biggest names in birdwatching is a young woman? Not only that, she’s also championing conservation and climate activism. Meet Dr Mya-Rose Craig (also known as 'Birdgirl'), the youngest person ever to receive an honorary doctorate in science and the youngest to spot half of the world’s bird species (that’s 5,000 birds)!

She’s shared a stage with environmental activists like Greta Thunberg and Chris Packham, proving that young voices matter in the fight for our planet. As a keen birdwatcher and environmental advocate myself, I see Mya-Rose as an inspiration. By the time you finish reading, you might just feel the same way!

Birdwatcher, Activist, Trailblazer: Who is Dr Mya-Rose Craig?

While most young people are busy with school and exams, Mya-Rose Craig spent much of youth spotting rare birds and fighting for a better planet. She went on her first birdwatching trip at just nine days old. She was luckily able to continue these trips throughout her childhood, taking her across the UK and beyond in search of rare birds. Spending so much time in nature allowed her to identify birds as a toddler, and by the age of 11, she had already seen around 3,000 different species—an astonishing achievement!

I consider myself lucky to have spotted a few unique birds, like a pheasant, a Cetti’s warbler, and a garden warbler, but I can’t even begin to imagine seeing as many species as Mya-Rose!

Beyond birdwatching, Mya-Rose is also a passionate activist, advocating for both climate action and diversity in conservation. At just 14, she founded Black2Nature, an organisation dedicated to making nature and birdwatching more accessible to young people from marginalised backgrounds. Through this, she has organised birdwatching events for teenagers from diverse communities, breaking barriers in what has traditionally been a white, male-dominated space.

She is also a vocal climate activist, taking part in the youth climate strikes and speaking at COP26. Achieving all of this at such a young age is nothing short of inspiring and to me it is incredibly encouraging. It makes me feel like I can go out and make a difference and empowers me to create change. It shows that young people's hard efforts in fighting for climate justice and a better world do not go unnoticed. You can be young and still make a difference. It feels as though age is no longer an obstacle when expressing concern and wanting to make a change, and we can thank people like Mya-Rose for that. Her work highlights just how vital youth voices are in conservation and the urgent need for environmental justice.

Through her passion, activism, and record-breaking birding achievements, Mya-Rose Craig has become a leading figure in nature conservation—and rightly so!

Breaking Barriers and Saving Nature: Why Mya-Rose’s Work Speaks to Me

Mya-Rose’s work isn’t just impressive - it’s also inspiring. As someone who really cares about climate activism and is passionate about birdwatching, I find her activism in both areas truly amazing. Climate activism is very important to me because this is our future we are talking about. We want the next generation, the generation after that and the one after that to be able to thrive on our planet and live comfortably. Birdwatching is also important to me because I find it very enjoyable, I love to be able to go out and watch them and see all the different species that live in the UK's amazing habitats. The fact that you may encounter new, rare types as well always excites me! Young people like me, and you, reading this will be the most affected by climate change in the future. Our future is at risk, but young people like Mya-Rose gives us all inspiration to push for climate action, to make a change, to help sort out our futures. Her courage to take action inspires me to do the same thing, to take action for our planet for my generation and those to come.

Young people offer new and unique ideas to solve climate change and protect nature. Young people can make these topics much more accessible, and we can reach wider audiences when given the opportunity. Mya-Rose offers inspirational ideas to breaking barriers so everyone is able to experience nature and voice their views and concerns. Isn’t that awesome? That’s why she’s so amazing and such an inspiration to me. She truly cares, and she truly brings young people together to make a difference. She wants the silenced to have a voice, which I think is truly incredible.

Taking Action: What can we learn from Mya-Rose’s work?

We should be inspired by her passion, courage, and enthusiasm! Coming together to conserve habitats and tackle climate change is essential. Anyone can share their opinions and concerns and get involved to restore nature. We need you—yes, you, the person reading this—too! There's so many ways to take action:

Build a bug hotel!
Plant some flowers for the bees!
Make social media posts about endangered birds!
Film a video about your climate concerns!
Photograph nature that inspires you!
Create some artwork about climate change!
Get out and survey wildlife in your garden or local park!

A good app I use that helps to monitor wildlife is iNaturalist (available on Android and iOS). It is easy to use and contributes to citizen science and global conservation efforts. By just uploading a photo of a flower, an insect or another part of nature local to you, you’re already making an impact.

By doing anything relevant to conservation or climate change, you and I can be the change the earth needs; we can be like Mya-Rose, and we can make a difference.

You can find out more about Mya-Rose’s work on the Birdgirl Facebook Page, Birdgirl Twitter, Birdgirl Instagram and Birdgirl LinkedIn.