I am slow to the blogging game because I never felt the need or desire to write one before now. Many bloggers have clear themes which start them on their cyber road or else they are so brilliant at captivating audiences with the excitements (or banalities) of life that just talking about their day or inner musings are sufficient to captivate large audiences. Until now my inner monologues were dumped on friends and family and close friends will tell you that as my friendships get stronger, my chat becomes more mundane!
Recently, however, I find myself with a theme. This is not a contrived theme resulting from the need to join the blogging world. It is not an idea or subject which is new to me. In fact this theme has always run through my life at some level but only now has it taken over. I am speaking, of course, of birds.
The First Twitches of Biology
For as long as I can remember I have been a birder. I was given binoculars early on although childish irresponsibility lead me to lose that pair, almost instantly, on a bench by the sea. I seem to remember, at the age of eleven, constructing my first list of lifers, the species of bird which I had encountered so far in my life. I think, at the time, there were just over 100 species on the list. Yesterday I saw my 216th British species a number which I am very pleased with given my age. Birding was something I did at weekends whilst walking with my families and it stayed at that level for many years.
Meanwhile, my thoughts of a career were already strongly fixed on academia as I wanted to be a marine biologist. I can't remember why but I guess my avid rock-pooling played a part and I know I wanted to learn to SCUBA dive as soon as I was able to. This desire melted away as school life became more relevant. My interest in the natural world was concrete by this point as demonstrated by the veritable library of nature books that I had accrued in my room. My interest in science generally meant it was no issue for me to have science and maths as core GCSEs which meant that my other options could be quite varied and tend to other interests.
Around this time I remember telling a relative that I wanted to go to Cambridge to read Natural Sciences. For two years this was my plan so I chose relevant subjects to study at A-Level and supported this with extracurricular activities which I was lead to believe would further my chances. I always like to tell people that biology was my least favourite A-level but this was no reflection on what biology could be for me. Maths and chemistry I found beautifully simple with nice, constant rules that could be applied again and again. At the other end of the scale, philosophy and ethics was very important in discussing the interplay between science and religion, a subject I still think about a lot. Biology, on the other hand, involved learning numerous structures and functions within the body as well as some cell biology and a touch of ecology. In particular I remember a lesson given to Darwin stating the logic behind evolution by natural selection. Blink and you would have missed what is the most substantiated and demonstrable theory in biology (if not all science) passing by amidst Calvin cycles and loops of Henle.
Understanding Evolution the Hard Way
Obviously I had been aware of evolution by natural selection before this but it took me until A-Level to truly appreciate it. During year 12 I submitted an essay to a competition hosted by Peterhouse College, Cambridge discussing whether 'Evolution is the Realisation of The Pretty Improbable'. Now I would give a resounding dismissal of this statement but at the time I was captivated by a mash-up of ideas that had been fed to me from different sources and this lead to a wishy-washy, anecdotal piece which was difficult to read for its misunderstandings, even a year later. I was angry at the time for not hearing any response from Peterhouse although maybe I wouldn't have replied to that particular piece.
I am probably being harsh on myself as few would have a good appreciation of evolution at that age, especially given the lack of coverage during school. So, I decided to go back to the source to begin to teach myself evolution properly. This had to begin with Darwin's masterpiece, On the Origin of Species. Darwin's sentences were long and convoluted and I would forget how the sentence began by the end of it but what emerged from this book, and from a few chapters in particular, was a beautiful theory which simply had to be true by logic alone. What surprised me most was how right he got it the first time around; it was odd but impressive to read the thoughts of a man who had come up with this by himself (with the help of a few others) and had not been taught by someone else. The sentence that resounded the most (and I'm sure was important to many) was the last:
'There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.'
After Origins I read Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene and, more than any other book, this one changed my life. Dawkin's certainly has a negative reputation today as an atheist fanatic and I think this is a shame and that he is damning himself because his early books were great. The Selfish Gene crystalised an understanding of evolution at the most basic level via the brilliant theories of biological greats such as R. A. Fisher, John Maynard Smith, Robert Trivers and (my personal favourite) Bill Hamilton.This book, and the more complex sequel, The Extended Phenotype, showed how a gene that could increase its relative frequency would spread by definition, regardless of the mechanism. The books that followed, such as The Blind Watchmaker, covered macroevolutionary processes adding to my understanding.
Uni
I digress. My point was that these books illustrated to me what biology, and particular evolution, could be like study. The Cambridge dream continued until two weeks before Oxbridge application deadlines when a (biased) careers adviser suggested that I should pursue pure biology instead at Oxford. After a quick turn around of thought, I applied to Magdalen College, Oxford to read Biological Sciences. The December interviews were tense but enjoyable and remarkably similar to the tutorials I would go on to have. I received an offer on the winter solstice and it was one of the proudest days of my life.
Ten months later I began a fantastic three years. With a college cohort of six within a year group of over 100 we covered a huge breadth of biology in first year including some aspects that had put me off at school. However by second year we could begin to specialise which for me involved zoology, ecology, evolution and animal behaviour. My fist taste of primary research came in the form of clumsy birds on a small island. For my dissertation I spent five weeks on Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire, weighing Manx shearwater fledglings. This gave me my first run through of the research process from start to finish and I enjoyed every step. I especially liked being among such charismatic birds in such a wild place.
By third year, all my options were really interesting and I still remember many of the lectures as I continue to explore biology. Two options stood out for me. The fist was the Evolutionary Ecology of Animals which explored how species evolve and diversify over time and how their interactions with each other shape these processes. The other course was Social Evolution which built on the passion first inspired by The Selfish Gene. At this time I found this subject the most intellectually stimulating (with hours spent wading through Price Equations and Alan Grafen) however I couldn't see myself doing it as it was a choice between pure theory or experimenting with microbes.
Around this time I applied for an MSc in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation at Imperial College, London. Having graduated with a First from Oxford I move to the tiny ecology campus in Silwood Park near Ascot. This course placed me among like-minded individuals covering subjects which built upon my third year options. In the spring I applied for PhDs including a position investigating cooperative breeding in meerkats which I thought would be a vertebrate application of my social evolution interests. However I did not secure any positions.
My MSc culminated in my project in Queensland where I investigated edge effects in birds: the alterations that forest edges make to interior ecosystems. This was such a fantastic experience allowing me two watch birds for days on end. My hobby was merging into my academic life. So it was that I finished my second degree and looked for jobs working in avian research. I secured one job, the macroecology research assistant position that I currently occupy. I now study birds every day. Birds R Us
Birds had become my life without me really noticing. They had always been there to some degree but only now has my academic interests converged on my leisure interests, that is I am fascinated by the diversity of birds. I want to see them all and discover how they came to be and how we can protect them. It is for this reason that I am beginning this blog. I feel I now have a purpose and a direction. I am going to see so many birds (albeit mostly dead ones) in the next few months that I wish to share with other people my experiences of this brilliant group of organisms. And hopefully this career will continue into the distant future!
This ended up being a much more protracted introduction than I had envisaged but it is also the first time I have put electronic pen to paper on my life so maybe its better I do it here than force it on a therapist one day. I hope you enjoy my life with birds.
