by Iona Cunningham-Eurich
Photo credit: Aeli Roberts
Confinement is a little difficult for us all. Whether you’ve gone to stay with family in the UK or abroad, are living with friends or are alone in student accommodation, it’s undeniable that life has changed quite a lot in the last few weeks.
Personally, I’m living in the centre of London in my uni flat, alone with no one to keep me company except approximately 15 plants. I’ve been thinking of sticking googly eyes to them to give them a bit of personality (may or may not have already done this). I’ve also discovered Google’s 3D animals. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s amazing: you go onto Google on your phone, type an animal of interest (e.g. tiger), search, click on the “view in 3D button” and there you are, a tiger in your bedroom!
Although I now feel like I'm surrounded by wildlife, what with these potted plants and imaginary animals, I realise that I am really missing the outdoors. I’m quite lucky, because the tree in front of my window receives a lot of feathery visitors, including wrens, long-tailed tits and goldfinches. Whenever I need a break from working on my Masters’ thesis, I look up and watch the birds outside.
I’m quite jealous really: they get to fly around and see their mates. I haven’t seen any of my friends for two weeks! The phrase “free as a bird” has never felt so true. Their chirping and singing is uplifting: a reminder that life does go on, and that the coronavirus situation we find ourselves in currently won’t go on forever.
But I am still one of the lucky ones: I have a tree and access to a garden. Not everyone is that lucky. Some friends of mine tell me that they haven’t been outside in two weeks! How is this possible?
To help with this, and to help us reconnect to wildlife, Yara, the Conservation Society Treasurer, decided to start a new Twitter trend: #DailyBird. This means that our bird walks (unfortunately cancelled) are bought to you. The concept is simple: everyday, a new bird appears on the @conservationucl Twitter feed. You can vote for the #DailyBird of the day or send us your submissions by sending us a message or email, tagging us on Twitter and using the hashtag #DailyBird. We look forward to hearing from you!