Year 5 MBChB student Gavin Woodbridge tells us about his passion for ornithology.
My extracurricular interest is birding – identifying, recording and studying birds! It is more than a hobby, it’s a passion.
I am fortunate enough to have had a remote upbringing which allowed me to develop an interest in natural history with a fantastic range of wildlife on my doorstep in the Orkney Isles. I find all birds interesting as they are very charismatic creatures. However, my real fascination is around migrant birds and their breeding ecology.
Observing during spring and autumn migration periods when birds are undertaking huge journeys to and from their breeding grounds in Northern Europe or the Arctic can be an awesome experience. On top of this, I enjoy following the fate of nesting birds during the summer months as they catch a brief window of rich conditions to attempt to raise their young before departing for the winter. This can be rewarding, heart-breaking and a prompt reminder of the harsh reality of the natural world.
Perhaps unlike some of my other colleagues, I spent much of my teen summers recording such breeding behaviour by monitoring barn swallow nests (and others!) and ringing their chicks – fitting a uniquely numbered ring to their legs allowing them to be subsequently identified as individuals and any movements logged, all under license. After a five year study period, I alongside others, had generated a neat volume of data which was used in my Zoology (BMedSci Hons) thesis.
A couple of friends and I have recently set up Edinburgh University 
, ‘Bird Soc’. Birding is something we three are passionate about and engaging other young people at the University with this shared interest seemed like the next logical step. We felt there is a decent body of students with this niche interest and a demand for a platform to allow us to collaborate, share knowledge, make friends and get out into the field together.
There is something very human about observing wildlife. For me, birding allows me to escape self-absorbed stresses of modern life and simply focus on observing the birds in their natural habitat. It can be very mindful. It’s something you can never tire of; it can be exciting as there are always new unusual species to find and new behaviours never fail to surprise you. Caution: once you have the taste for ‘twitching’, you’re hooked.
Memories
There are too many fond memories of birds for me to list here. I offer a recent one. I was with some friends hiking through the Pare mountains in northern Tanzania in East Africa. It was June, coming to the end of rainy season and cool, but a tough hike through ‘paths’ to an elevation of approximately 2500m. Nearing the top of the route as we finally broke over the tree line after an hour or so in the shade, a pair of peregrine falcons sweep low past us. Cool, the fastest animals on the planet just flying and playing on the high slopes. Suddenly I see them swoop high and towards very large, dark bird of prey soaring well above the mountain summit. The bird drifts closer and away from the scorching sun revealing a pale breast and head with relatively dark wings and tail. Completely dwarfing the peregrines, it also revealed a unique structure typical of a vulture. After a few seconds with a decent binocular view I was delighted to announce 
that it was a lammergeier (or bearded vulture) a real high-altitude specialist. I was ecstatic to see this species which I had only dreamt of seeing after footage on BBC documentaries as a child of these birds devouring bones of carrion. I was completely struck – a truly awesome bird.
Mindfulness. Playtime. Keeping healthy. We all need something else to fulfill interest elsewhere and, while important, there is more to life than books and bedside teaching. Extracurriculars allow you to learn new skills, meet new people and most importantly, have fun!
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