Twitch by M. G. Leonard

June 8th 2021

Twitch by M. G. Leonard

Young birdwatchers enjoy my beetle books because they know how crucial insects are to birds, as food. If there are no bugs, there will be no birds. The birders I’ve met are passionate and knowledgeable about the natural world and they’re cool. Birdwatchers wear camo colours, often have a camera and, or, a pair of binoculars, always carry a notebook and pencil and enjoy learning about nature. They are part spy, part detective, part collector. They even hang out in dens or “hides” as they call them. It didn’t take long for me to realise a birdwatcher would make a great hero for a story.

In 2019 I took my family on a research trip to the Calder Valley. My online investigations had led me to a beautiful nature reserve called Cromwell Bottom and so we hired a canal boat and sailed it from Hebden Bridge to Cromwell Bottom. I challenged my children to spot and identify as many birds as possible. The deal was that if they could identify a bird correctly, I would put it in the book.

Habitat and species are bound by an unbreakable link. If you’re going to write about lots of different types of birds, you must find a real place where you can see those species in the same week of the year. This is not something it’s possible to invent. Much of my fiction is grounded by detailed researched, but Twitch is built on it.

We spotted over thirty types of bird on that trip and a few of them, like the grey heron and the peregrine falcon, were super impressive, but I fell in love with birdwatching when I saw my first kingfisher.

I’d got up early to go for a run and was keeping my eyes peeled but only spotted blackbirds and pigeons until I encountered a man walking his dog. He said the kingfishers were out that morning and told me to stand in the middle of the bridge across the river and be patient.

At first, I saw an electric flash zip across the water. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Then I saw another. It was so fast; I couldn’t be sure what it was. Then the bird landed and, for the briefest second, I could see it was a kingfisher, before it vanished in a streak of sapphire. I was stunned by the beauty and the magic of the moment. My soul soared and the world grew bigger and just like that, I became a birdwatcher.

Twitch is about friendship, trust, and catching a notorious bank robber, but the world of the story is built with wonderous birds and the prose rich with information about them.

I hope Twitch will encourage children to notice the birds they see. Birdwatching is something you can do through a window, or in a park. It’s fun building your bird list and seeing a new bird can really lift your spirits.

Twitch, published by Walker is available now.