Storytelling to create a sustainable world

Image of dehorned rhinoceros shedding tear with young girl holding out her hand
Advertising artwork depicting a dehorned rhinoceros by Alan Dobson from Pixabay

Keeping up with global news has never been easier with round-the-clock internet and more social media platforms than are good for us. But with so much information and misinformation, digital media can be a curse as well as a blessing for conservation communications. So, how much notice are people taking of the climate and nature crises and can storytelling reach people who have switched off?

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Feeding garden birds: for better or worse?

Blue tit and great tit eating peanuts from garden feeder
Image by Kev from Pixabay

Every January, I spend a blissful hour watching birds in the garden, joining over half a million people in the UK for the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch. Feeding garden birds is now a popular activity worldwide, with public interest in feeding wild birds soaring during the Covid pandemic. Indeed, scientific research shows a surge in Google searches for bird food and feeders across 115 countries in the northern and southern hemispheres during the general lockdown. In the UK alone, we spend an estimated £200-300 million on bird feeding products each year (2019), providing enough food for 196 million birds. This far exceeds the energy needs of the combined total population of many common garden species.

Like many people who feed birds, I want to help them through the winter. But even the breeding season is a challenge for birds now as agricultural intensification, climate change and urbanisation impact natural food sources, prompting us to feed birds year-round. But are we doing more harm than good?

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Exploring Norfolk’s winter wonderland

Blickling National Trust

As autumn passes the baton to winter, we find ourselves slowing down, and shorter days and less sunlight means winter blues and even depression can strike. Colder weather keeps us indoors where there’s plenty of technology to entertain us, but too much screen time can leave us feeling stressed. We’re less connected to the natural world, yet research by The Wildlife Trusts and the University of Essex shows that spending time in nature is good for our health.

Contact with nature reduces anxiety and stress and improves mood, self-esteem, and attention and concentration. Exposure to nature also increases immunity and can help reduce symptoms of ADHD in children. Such is the importance of nature to wellbeing that Richard Louv, co-founder of the Children & Nature Network, describes nature as ‘Vitamin N’.

Winter can be the ideal time for a nature walk and Norfolk the ideal place!

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Autumn is the perfect time for a feast of fungi

Blickling Gold: Tracy Brighten

Autumn is my favourite time to get outdoors and go for a walk. Pick a sunny day and the backdrop of blue sky with golden trees takes your breath away. On days like this, my worries float away with the falling leaves.

When life’s stresses weigh me down, a walk in the woods puts the spring back in my step. When I’m breathing in the earthiness of a downpour or watching birds take flight, I feel alive. Continue reading

Books to open your mind and improve your life

Books to open your mind

We all have favourite books. Some books explore the human condition, helping us understand ourselves and each other. Other books teach us about nature with fascinating stories of wildlife and wilderness. Books that have the power to change us are those that challenge our beliefs and offer new perspectives. These books can lead us to live a more conscientious and compassionate life.

I’d like to share some of my favourite books in the areas of health and wellness, sustainable and ethical living, wildlife conservation, and family and education. These books have enlightened and inspired me to live a more considered life. I hope some of these books may help you in your life too.  Continue reading

Create a cafe for hungry garden birds and feel good

Help garden birds through the winter and feel the warmth of nature

Garden birds robin

The rental property we moved to recently was built on land where an old bungalow used to be. Except for three conifers, the garden was cleared and laid to lawn except for an empty flower bed which I turned over the other week hoping to attract robins and blackbirds with worms.

The garden may be neat, but it isn’t bird-friendly. Continue reading

When dietary changes make you a social outcast

By Tracy Brighten

Vegetarian sandwich

Make a decision to lose weight, change career, or have children, and friends and family generally meet the change with excitement and words of encouragement. But tell them you no longer eat meat, fish, or dairy, or even that you’re just thinking about it, and you find yourself being interrogated!

If your reasons for dietary changes are health based, you risk the usual ill-informed response that you can’t be healthy without meat. But if your reasons are ethics based, be prepared for an even rougher ride. Continue reading

Dairy free Christmas brings comfort and joy

By Tracy Brighten

December wasn’t an easy month to be dairy free, but thinking of calves taken from their mothers kept me on track 

I was already considering the next stage of my journey in eating more ethically, but the exposure of dairy industry cruelty was the motivation I needed. After witnessing the abuse of bobby calves, it was time for change. Continue reading

Local nature puts a spring in our step

It’s easy to overlook the local nature in our gardens and neighbourhood, but regular contact helps us tap into our roots 

Yellow Flower

Unless we’re lucky enough to live in the countryside, if we want to spend time in nature, we might wait for a day when we can head to a nature reserve, a wildlife sanctuary, or the coast. But in our busy life, days can turn to weeks, and weeks to months while we miss out on local nature.

Truth is that for many of us, the benefits of time in nature can be enjoyed much closer to home. Continue reading

Respite in Nature

By Tracy Brighten

A story of the stresses of urban life and the need for respite in nature 

Autumn tree for respite in nature

FICTION 

The car won’t start. Flat battery. It looks like I’ll have to catch the bus. But I’ve not been on a bus for years. Anxiety charges through me.

I’ve psyched myself up and I’m ready to go, but it’s pouring with rain. The windows will be steamed up and I won’t see a thing. I’ll have to rub a circle to see out and hope that my breath doesn’t fill the space faster than I can take in the view of the hills. Then there’s the smell of damp raincoats. I loathe the smell of damp raincoats. Continue reading

Spending time in nature is good for our soul

Walk in nature

Spending time in nature has many health benefits, yet we find ourselves more removed from the natural world

In economically developed countries, we enjoy medical and technological advances that improve our health and lifespan. We have education, transport, energy, and communication systems that give us greater opportunities for careers, business and travel, as well as a more comfortable lifestyle.

You might expect people to be happier than ever. Continue reading

Nature prevents disease and boosts wellbeing

By Tracy Brighten

Scientific research backs up what conservation groups and nature enthusiasts know: spending time in nature is good for us

Research is increasingly showing the importance of a public health focus on disease prevention, with nature gaining ground as a natural approach to tackle a range of health problems. Continue reading

Is social media boosting self-esteem or feeding depression and anxiety?

Girl looking at phone

Researchers identify social media use as a risk factor in the rising trend of teenage depression

Olivia checks Facebook to see what’s been happening since she looked an hour ago. It’s 11.30 pm. She may spend ten minutes or it may be a couple of hours if there are lots of posts. Olivia has 453 friends. She posts a selfie showing her Clairol Deep Chestnut hair and waits for a response. Three likes come through. She relaxes a little.

Olivia is one of the increasing number of young people at risk of mental health problems from social media experiences. With over 1.2 billion active users monthly on Facebook—and more than 757 million users interacting every day—we are more publicly exposed than ever.

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Let’s save New Zealand’s native birds

New Zealand yellow-eyed penguin feeding its chick

Self-described animal lovers value pets, but in our society, birds are way down the pecking order. Yet they deserve our care and protection. My speech for birds. Prize-winner at the Massey University Speech Awards 2014 . 

Maria Montessori’s method of early childhood education had a defining and lasting effect on my family, especially her emphasis on a child’s care and respect for people and the environment.

I’m anxious then that our children are growing up in a society where economic concerns outweigh ecological concerns, where status outweighs values and where oneself outweighs others. Philosopher Peter Singer condemns this human-centeredness; he believes all animals are equal and deserve equal respect.

People often place value on animals based on their value to people, but this ignores the value in animals existing for their own sake. People value pets but in our constructed animal hierarchy, wildlife is demoted. And if you take birds, they’re way down the pecking order, but surely birds deserve our care and protection?

Sir David Attenborough certainly thinks so: “What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?”[i]

The bar-tailed godwit is a world record holder and New Zealand plays a part in this incredible bird’s story. In March 2007, these modest-looking birds hit the headlines when satellite tagging revealed they flew non-stop for over 10,000 km from New Zealand to Northern China, then continued on to breeding grounds in Alaska.[ii] In September they returned to New Zealand in a direct flight of 11,680 km, the longest journey without a feeding stop made by any animal. During summer you can glimpse these superheroes feeding in the mudflats at Foxton Beach in the Manawatu.

If the Minister of Internal Affairs in 1941 hadn’t issued a hunting ban to end their mass slaughter, believing this remarkable bird worthy of protection, it may have been a different story. Opponents argued that protection should only be imposed in cases of economic importance, scientific value or danger of extinction. The problem with waiting until birds are in danger is that we risk being too late.

Take a look at the bird immortalised on your five dollar note. The yellow-eyed penguin with its distinctive yellow crown is unique to New Zealand but sadly, it is one of the rarest penguins in the world. To make way for farming, early settlers set fire to coastal forest and scrub habitat. Penguins were forced to nest further inland and adult birds, eggs and chicks became easier prey for the dogs, cats, and stoats the settlers brought with them.[iii]

If you’re familiar with the Otago Peninsula, you might know the hide at the far end of Sandfly Bay. If you’ve been there at dawn you will have seen these majestic penguins slowly zigzagging down steep rocky slopes to the sea and you will know how unique and special they are. If you’ve been to ‘Penguin Place’, hurrying through tunnels linking hides as you follow a solitary penguin from the beach through dunes to meet its chick, you will know. And you don’t have to see to know. I’m sure I’ll never see an Emperor penguin in the Antarctic but just knowing they are there is reason enough to care.

The New Zealand dotterel is another native bird threatened by habitat loss, predation and human disturbance. You may have noticed this wary red-breasted bird with bandy legs keeping her eye on you as she hurries across the sand. She may even feign a broken wing to draw you away from her nest. With housing and tourist development, her beach habitat is busier than ever. Her eggs are well-camouflaged in a scrape in the sand just above the high tide mark but they’re easily crushed by people, horses or cars.[iv]

Dogs running off the lead can also crush her eggs, or disturb her as she incubates, or even kill her chicks. Cats take her eggs in daytime and night hunters can pluck her from her nest. Her unfledged chicks are easy prey too; one cat can wipe out all the nests near its home in a single night.

If you live near dotterel habitat, keep cats inside, and dog walkers please check restrictions, especially in the breeding season. An egg laid on Motuihe Island has twice the chance of surviving to fledgling compared to mainland areas where predators roam, so it’s worth our effort.[v]

And what about the kiwi? Our national icon could become extinct on the mainland within 50 years. Dogs are the main killer of adult kiwi in Northland where the average lifespan is 14 years compared to 45 to 60 years elsewhere.[vi] Around Whangarei, more than 320 kiwis have died from dog attacks in the last 12 years.[vii] That’s 320 we might have saved.

Conservationists work tirelessly on breeding, pest control, and research, yet their work can be undone in just one night of rampage. Dogs – whether hunting dogs, farm dogs, or pets – are responsible for 80% of adult kiwi deaths each year. It’s true the population can handle some chick losses, but the death of a breeding adult is far more serious. Because the kiwi doesn’t have a breastbone, even a curious dog not intending harm can cause death.

BNZ, who sponsors ‘Save the Kiwi’ campaign, believes with better awareness the decline can be reversed.[viii] If owners keep dogs inside or in an escape-proof garden, especially at night when kiwi leave their burrows, and if roaming dogs are reported to DOC, kiwi deaths can be prevented. Dogs kill in seconds, but aversion training discourages them from approaching kiwi and is very effective.[ix] Why wouldn’t we take these easy measures to help?

Kiwi chicks are killed by cats roaming in kiwi territory during the breeding season. Owners can’t control where their cat goes at night, and you might be surprised to learn that domestic cats wearing radio transmitters were found to roam up to 20 km from home.[x] Partners in crime, stoats, and cats kill a staggering 70% of kiwi chicks before they reach 6 months of age.

It’s a tragedy. Our daughter, a zoologist and passionate birder, tells me how gentle and endearing this flightless bird is. She describes the thrill of being in the bush in the moonlight, hearing a kiwi call, then seeing this rare bird creep past, foraging as it goes.

Cats don’t just kill kiwi. The average cat kills 13 birds a year. [xi] A WSPA pet survey reveals New Zealand has 1.4 million cats, so the death toll is huge.[xii] Why does this matter? After all, you might argue, birds aren’t important, and anyway, cats catch rats, don’t they? That may be true, but there are other methods of controlling rats that don’t harm birds, including traps and new poisons, so we don’t need cats to catch rats.

Native birds could disappear forever, but if we’re truly clean and green we must conserve bird diversity. I’m not suggesting public commentator Gareth Morgan’s cat-free society. Pets are part of our culture. But we have a duty and a moral obligation to be responsible pet owners and look beyond the interests of our own household.

Cats are predators. It may be distasteful, but Tiddles is equally at home tearing apart fledgling dotterel as he is snuggling up on the sofa. Like teenagers, if you let them out all night while you sleep, you can’t be sure what they’re up to.

So what can we do to help? The story of Sylvia Durrant, the long-time volunteer for SPCA Birdwing now in her eighties, is an inspiring one.[xiii]

Many years ago Sylvia was a nurse and knew little about birds, but she volunteered in her spare time. Her home and back yard have become a hospital filled with cages and feathered patients. Fondly known as the ‘bird lady’, Sylvia visits schools to talk about caring for sick and injured birds and she is a passionate advocate. She knows first-hand the damage cats can inflict and she teaches responsible ownership.

If you have a cat, Sylvia asks you to keep it inside at night and to pop on a collar and bell when it’s roaming in the daytime. You might think a bell won’t work, but bells are effective and reduce bird catch rates by 50%.[xiv] You might say your cat doesn’t hunt, but did you know cats bring home less than one-third of their total kill?

Feral cat populations quickly spiral out of control so de-sex your cat to prevent kittens that may become wild. Gareth Morgan condemns the SPCA policy of releasing neutered feral cats the SPCA says have a right to life.[xv] What about birds’ rights he asks? He has a point. Like the Minister of Internal Affairs who protected godwits, you can save birds by preventing these killing sprees.

Tiritiri Matangi in the Hauraki Gulf is known as ‘The Singing Island’, but there was a time when forest birds were forced to leave and silence fell.[xvi] Early settlers cleared forest for houses, crops and animal grazing. By the time they left, the forest had been decimated.

Thankfully Ray, a lighthouse keeper turned ranger, led the restoration in the 80s and now this forested paradise is home to a chorus of species, including the rare takahe, saddleback and stitchbird. Pests have been eradicated and bush boardwalks let visitors see what’s possible with vision, dedication and patience. But there’s still work to be done on the mainland.

Every year in October, celebrities campaign for Forest & Bird ‘Bird of the Year’ and the public can vote for their favourite native.[xvii] Past eminent stars include the New Zealand falcon, the kiwi and the kakapo, and you may recall Stephen Fry’s humping encounter with Sirroco that raised him to ambassador status for this critically endangered parrot.

Birders aren’t a weird species huddled in hides; they’re people who care. Cast your vote and tweet your friends – “birds are cool”. We can join wildlife conservation groups – ‘Kiwis for Kiwi’ website is full of information for volunteers, pet owners, hunters and more.[xviii] We can show our children how to tread softly in nature, how to watch, listen and care. DOC’s website has video clips to inform and inspire tomorrow’s conservationists. [xix] We can set up a feeding table, especially in winter, and a birdbath is a lifeline in summer. We can extend our love for pets to the wildlife in our back yards, on our farmland, in our countryside.

Birds are beautiful. Grab your coat, grab your binoculars, grab your children and get out into the bush. Take your time. Stop, look, and listen. Hear the whoosh of the kereru in the treetops or the tui’s melancholic notes. See the fantail flitting back and forth or the blackbird foraging on the floor. Even in the largest cities, you’re never far from nature in New Zealand. Open your eyes to our country’s amazing birds and let their songs into your heart.

[i] Attenborough, David. (n.d.). Retrieved October 08, 2013, from http://www.brainyquote.com/

[ii] Woodley, Keith. (2009). Godwits – Long haul champions. Auckland: The Penguin Group.

[iii] Yellow-Eyed Penguin Trust. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2013, from http://www.yellow-eyedpenguin.org.nz/penguins/threats-disease-and-predators

[iv] Department of Conservation. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2013, from http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/native-animals/birds/birds-a-z/nz-dotterel-tuturiwhatu/

[v] Neate, & Hester R. (2011). Breeding success of northern New Zealand dotterels (Charadrius obscurus aquilonius) following mammal eradication on Motuihe Island, New Zealand. Notornis. 58(1), pp. 17-21.

[vi] Department of Conservation. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2013, from http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/conservation/native-animals/birds/saving-northlands-kiwi-from-dogs-factsheet.pdf

[vii] Stuff. (2012, February). Kiwi deaths spur reminder to dog owners. Retrieved September 30, 2013, http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6424474/Kiwi-deaths-spur-reminder-to-dog-owners

[viii] BNZ Save the Kiwi. (2011, August). Owner of Kiwi killing dog ‘sickened’ by bird’s death. Retrieved September 30, 2013, http://www.kiwirecovery.org.nz/news/news/owner-of-kiwi-killing-dog-sickened-by-birds-death.html

[ix] Shivers, Timothy (2013, September, 30). Time to save the Kiwi. New Zealand Herald: Element magazine, pp. 23.

[x] Metsers, E.M. (2010). Cat-exclusion zones in rural and urban-fringe landscapes: how large would they have to be? Wildlife Research, 37, pp. 47–56.

[xi] Van Heezik, Y. (2010). Do domestic cats impose an unsustainable harvest on urban bird populations? Biological Conservation. 143, pp. 121–130.

[xii] WSPA (2011, August) New Zealand Survey Reveals A Nation Of Animal Lovers And Pet Owners. Retrieved September 30, 2013, from http://www.wspa.org.nz/latestnews/2011/NZ_survey_a_nation_of_animal_lovers.aspx

[xiii] Durrant, Sylvia (2009). Personal communication.

[xiv] Gordon, J.K. (2010). Belled collars reduce catch of domestic cats in New Zealand by half. Wildlife Research, 37, pp. 372.

[xv] Morgan, Gareth. (n.d.). The SPCA are releasing cats into the Wild. Retrieved September 29, 2013, http://garethsworld.com/catstogo/

[xvi] Moon, Lynette (1998). The Singing Island. Auckland: Random House.

[xvii] Stewart, Matt. (2013, October, 5). Battle of the Birds. Dominion Post. pp. A20.

[xviii] Kiwis for Kiwi. (n.d). Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http://www.kiwisforkiwi.org/

[xix] Department of Conservation. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2013, from http://tvnz.co.nz/meet-the-locals/s2009-e6-dotterels-video-2802910