BIRDWATCHING FOR ME AND MY CHRISTIAN FAITH

Posted: 02.12.25 in Articles category

Here’s another article in our series written by friends who enjoy watching birds and link that enjoyment to their personal Christian faith. Barbara Jaquess is one such friend whom I first met on an Even Sparrows retreat on Holy Island several years ago.    

BIRDWATCHING FOR ME AND MY CHRISTIAN FAITH

I grew up in central London, and could recognise robins, pigeons and blackbirds, and ducks and swans in Regent’s Park but not much else. No-one in my family had much active interest in nature. In 1973 I began teaching in church-run schools in Nigeria in a rural location, where there was a variety of birds of different shapes sizes and colours. A colleague who lived on the same compound introduced me to West African birds, we walked down to the river nd looked in trees around the compound. So I began to learn about pied flycatchers, crows (black and white), magpies (Black), bee-eaters and sunbirds with wonderful colours, rollers, bishop birds (scarlet) and others. Visitors brought me some binoculars, and the small Book of West African birds gave excellent coloured pictures with descriptions. These walks also provided us with relaxing spaces in between the demands of teaching and constant calls on our time and energy. Such times were important for survival and focussing on things other than lesson planning and church involvement, and were reminders of the Creator’s creativity in such a variety of shapes, sizes, colours, songs, habitats.

After returning to UK I joined a birdwatching holiday in 1992 where someone taught me to recognise the call of a chaffinch (twiddle at the end) and I subscribed to Bird Watching magazine. From this I learnt a lot about species but also news of conservation, decline or growth of bird populations, criminal persecution of birds etc. I also bought cassette tapes, video and the “Teach Yourself Bird Sounds” CD to try to learn to identify bird songs and calls. Since then, I’ve been able to join another holiday in Scotland and several of the retreats led by Mark on Holy Island and at Launde Abbey. More recent books such as the RSPB Guide to Birdsong added information. Nature programmes on TV show wonderful wildlife events, and local nature reserves offer space to relax and observe birds. It’s lovely too to be able to combine two hobbies – attempting to draw and paint birds in watercolour (not good enough for publication though!) During holidays and local walks I have tried to observe and listen to birds wherever I am, and where possible identify them. When I cannot do that, I just enjoy being with them, without striving to identify the bird. Look at the birds, be quiet and wait patiently - these are lessons for faith too: be still, look, listen, wait patiently.

On one retreat Mark gave us a picture of Jesus lying down as though with his arms around a hen with chicks, as though He was protecting them. This October a phrase from ‘Celtic Daily Prayer’ has been singing in my head constantly: In the shadow of your wings I will sing your praises O Lord. Often verses such as Isaiah 40: 31, Ruth 2:12, Psalm 17:8, 36:7, 61:4, and 91:4 have reminded me of the refuge which God gives us His children as we turn to Him in trust – whatever is happening in our lives. We know of some birds carrying their chicks on their back, and of others flying below their young to catch them as they learn to fly. The picture of the parent bird sheltering or protecting its chicks reminds me that God does this for us too – and has done for me in various ways in recent years.

Hide me in the shadow of your wings …. All may take refuge in the shadow of your wings … let me find refuge under the shelter of your wings … under his wings you will find refuge …

Barbara Jaquess, 2025