From Childhood Spark to Conservation Career with Mya Bambrick

Mya Bambrick has been birding since she was eight. She's now a BTO Youth Ambassador, winner of the BTO's Young Ornithologist of the Year Award and a familiar voice on Radio 4's Tweet of the Day. She works full time in conservation with Birds of Poole Harbour, and she's on a mission to get young people hooked on the hobby we all love.

In this episode, Mya takes us from a street dance academy in Crawley to a hide at Warnham Local Nature Reserve, where an osprey and a kingfisher changed everything. We talk about the bird camp that shaped her path, ringing nightjars for a group of young birders, why birding is booming among young people, and how to keep the joy in birding when the camera and the phone keep pulling you away.

Episode Takeaways:

• Find your people: A free BTO bird camp at 13 gave Mya the community she couldn't find at school. Ten years later, she's helping run one.
• Representation matters: Growing up in a single-parent household, with no birding role models who looked like her, drove Mya to make birding more accessible and inclusive, especially for young girls.
• You're a birder if you love birds: Sofa birder or seasoned twitcher, there's no right way to do it. Binoculars around your neck, and you're in.
• Protect the moment: Mya keeps camera days and content days separate from binoculars-only days, and she saves her eBird list until she's finished birding.

Episode Timestamps:

• 01:46 - Meet Mya Bambrick
• 03:08 - How It All Began
• 07:27 - Kingfisher Chase Story
• 10:31 - Finding Young Birders
• 13:09 - BTO Youth Engagement
• 19:46 - Making Birding Inclusive
• 25:46 - Birding For Everyone
• 27:50 - Sofa Birders And Twitchers
• 28:28 - Camera Versus Birding
• 31:25 - Balancing Tech And Presence
• 32:11 - Apps Versus Pen And Paper
• 33:46 - Young Ornithologist Award
• 37:35 - Rapid Fire Birding Picks

Important Links & Resources:

• Follow My Birding Life on Instagram
• Subscribe to My Birding Life on YouTube
• Follow Mya on Instagram