Where my love of birds comes from:

My Granny B. 

She was mischievous yet honest, stubborn but generous, naive yet wise... all with an abundance of love that somehow never seemed to smother you.

She was our matriarch of a large happy family and in her later years would look at you with a twinkle in her eye and say:

“One day …I’ll come back as an Owl”.

She loved to entertain my imaginary games as a little girl;

Her painful back did not stop her from crouching beside me, helping construct fairy houses out of twigs, moss and leaves. We would leave breadcrumbs out on fairy-sized tables adorned with acorn cups full of water. Her love of all little critters and creatures inspired and ignited my imagination of a fairy tale world that co-existed; parallel to our own.

She taught me the importance of nature.

She taught me that Bees; however nasty their sting, were akin to the fairies and so I was to treat every bug, beetle and bird with the utmost respect.

As you can imagine, saying goodbye to Granny B was hard. My family had only just thrown her a surprise fairy birthday party in Switzerland (last pic) when she was diagnosed with Terminal Cancer. Retrospectively we couldn’t believe the timing of it all, and how lucky we were to spend those precious moments with our wise, old Owl.

When the whirlwind of her death and funeral had abated, her children went to scatter her ashes in the fields outside her home. It was a mild, summer’s day, and as they went to say their last goodbye, they looked up to see a usually nocturnal and shy animal that surprised them in the sky….

It was a Barn Owl.

It soared above them, lingered for a still moment, then went on it’s way.

Sometimes it’s ok to believe in an idea that makes you happy. For me that idea, was that our wise, old Owl came to say Hello. The idea that birds are souls flying free in the wind, not only brings me comfort, but reminds me of the circle of life, the importance of nature and my mission to protect it 💫.

Love Lily x