Roxanne's seagull survey has now been made into a book!
For those who don't know, Roxanne is my 11 year old daughter and a child completely obsessed by nature. Even before she could walk she was down there, on her belly, scrutinising the creepy crawlies, or up there, in her high chair, peering intently at any fly which might land on her table. Even before she had heard of Gerald Durrell she was emulating him with a series of "pets" ranging from grasshoppers and beetles through to toads and a crayfish. And snails
In her eighth year Roxanne won the RSPB's nature diary competition in the 8 to 12 year old category. One of the judges commented on her ability to tell a story, and this is something which has also been remarked upon by the man who wrote the foreword to her book, Richard Williamson. (Richard is the son of Henry Tarka-the-Otter Williamson, and was, for more than 20 years, the warden of one of England's first nature reserves. He is also an author in his own right).
As regular IBN forumers will know, in the spring of 2008 Roxanne embarked upon an ambitious study of a yellow-legged seagull colony on one of the island's in the Mar Menor (in the region of Murcia). As part of the project she "rescued" (or kidnapped) one newborn gull chick and a gull's egg, and these were brought aboard the "research vessel" - our floating home - and were successfully hand reared. Even after they could fly and could feed themselves the young gulls continued to visit their surrogate mum.
Anyone who has not encountered Roxanne or read parts of her survey will probably imagine that this is a childish work, of no real interest to naturalists, but this is not the case. Richard Williamson has commented on the fact that the study, and the story, would be remarkable even if it were not written by a ten year old.
Two Gulls and a Girl is available, by order, from any bookshop - including Spanish bookshops, I suppose, if you give them the details. (Author name: Roxanne Schinas. Publisher: Imperator Publishing. The ISBN is 978-0-9560722-0-7.)
It is also available from
Amazon UK or
Amazon US. (If you use those links we get a referral fee, without it costing you any more than usual.)
Perhaps Clive will add it to the Iberia Nature Bookshop, one day...
If you want to know more about the book,
there is some blurb here.
While I am here I would like to thank all those forumers who have encouraged Roxanne, answering her questions and helping to identify her never ending chain of new discoveries. It has been a while since she posted anything "in her own write", but she is still an avid reader of the wildlife pages. Typing is not her forte, and so when she has a question she generally prefers to dictate things to me.
Jill
Roxanne's PA, Secretary, Assistant Naturalist, and General Dogsbody.
