In a widely used children’s dictionary from the UK, a number of everyday nature words - “acorn”, “kingfisher” and “wren” - were being removed as the words were not being used enough by children to warrant inclusion.

In response and protest to this removal, artist Jackie Morris and poet Robert Macfarlane created a children’s book ‘The Lost Words’. - a book of spells that seeks to conjure back the near-lost magic and strangeness of the nature that surrounds us. “We’ve got more than 50% of species in decline. And names, good names, well used can help us see and they help us care. We find it hard to love what we cannot give a name to. And what we do not love we will not save.”

Accompanying the book is a musical album ‘Spell Songs’. A friend shared this song a few weeks back. I was out on my boat on the Gippsland Lakes watching as both the fear and the virus were rapidly spreading around the world. Not far away bushfires had ravaged the land a few months before. So much devastation and suffering yet still surrounded by so much beauty.

This video was made to share some of that, some of the incredible birds and wildlife that we share this land with. Who deserve acknowledgment, respect and a voice.
It was made because the world as we know it is crumbling before us, and what really matters is becoming easier to see. And because something in the song inspired me, and that was reason enough.