Healing wings

On a crisp morning, the surface of the canal is like a mirror. I slow down on the bridge and in perfect reflection I see my first flock of wild geese for the day, flying overhead as if to greet me. They have already flown, along with thousands of others, from Arctic Russia, as they do every year, to a wetland sanctuary beside the River Severn in Gloucestershire. My own annual journey to see them takes me over the canal, then down the road, bisecting the frost-covered fields to arrive at Slimbridge Wetland Centre. This is my sanctuary too for a few hours – finding calm and stillness, simply watching the birds.

Watching birds does makes people feel “relaxed and connected to nature,” according to research from the University of Exeter and the British Ornithological Trust published in 2017. While many studies have linked time spent in nature