This is such a hard question - I bet that's what everyone says! But if I have to choose, it has to be the very first time I truly saw a bird. It was a European robin in a city park in Scotland. January 18, 2020 - a date I still celebrate every year.

Back then I was really struggling with anxiety, desperate to find something that could pull me out of my own head. I grabbed an old camera from the closet and went to the park with the goal of photographing some plants and flowers (or at least try). Then this robin appeared from a bush, hopped towards me, and just... looked at me. Curious.

My first thought was: this little bird is so brave. And something shifted. A joy I hadn't felt in months came flooding back. That robin didn't just change my plans for the day - it changed the entire trajectory of my life.

Do you also have a round-the-world ticket? Because I'd definitely need one. My answer is: all the grebes of the world. Yes, all of them!

My obsession started the first time I witnessed the courtship dance of the Great Crested Grebe - this mesmerising, almost choreographed ritual on the water. I was completely captivated. Now I can't rest until I've seen every species.

Having visited only Europe and Australia, I'd still need to chase down species across North America, South America, New Zealand, and Madagascar. It's a big dream, but the best kind. What makes it feel urgent is that several grebe species have gone extinct in recent decades - a quiet tragedy most people don't even know about... So yes, I'd go everywhere, with the hope that the species still with us will remain so for a very long time.

It's funny to think that something I knew absolutely nothing about six years ago is now completely woven into who I am. Birding quite literally saved me during one of the hardest periods of my life, and I haven't forgotten that.

Today I try to spend time birding every single day - even if that just means sitting in my garden with a coffee, catching up on the comings and goings of the resident birds. There's something grounding about that daily ritual that I protect.

Beyond the personal side, birding has also become part of my work and my mission. I teach wildlife photography to a global community, and at the heart of everything I share is this belief: that connecting with birds - really seeing them - can change you. It changed me completely. If my photos or my teaching can lead even one person to go looking for their own robin, that feels like enough.