Over the last couple of years nature has become my safest place and I spend most of my free time watching and photographing birds with my wife. We’re a well-oiled machine these days; she carries the scope, I take the camera, and we both have binoculars around our necks and sometimes our little dog is attached to her waist. We spend hours walking and standing still, talking about what we’ve seen and staying silent. We make lists, try to learn bird calls, sometimes we can recognise a bird straight away and sometimes it takes some time, we meet new people, learn things and share sightings, we love it. Our bird list is modest compared to other birders but the thrill is in the doing it, in being there. I have depression and it isn’t something I’m often able to forget about. The first bird hide we sat in gave me an instant feeling of calm and I found it more mindful than meditation. It took no effort to sit back and enjoy what was happening in front of us because the view from the hide