"Never say never," says bird watcher Trevor

I met Trevor at his local coffee shop at Sandstone Point; a stone's throw from Bribie Island on the north-western edge of Moreton Bay. With my hair and glasses dripping from the torrential rain outside, and new to journalistic etiquette, I fumbled through an awkward show of appreciation for Trevor's time. I was caught off-guard by this wonderfully cheery man, who joked with the waitress and offered to buy me a coffee. Trevor, who seems to be permanently smiling, grew up in the heart of London, a different world to his adopted suburban home, and almost entirely lacking in the kind of birdlife that he has since developed a passion for.

Before the interview officially began, Trevor and I chatted for a while. I told him about a media conference I attended recently, held for a group of journalism students at Queensland University. The conference was mainly focused around the affects of global warming on coral reefs, an issue which potentially has spin-off effects all the way up the food chain. I hinted in practised journalistic subtleties that what I wanted from Trevor was a description of some kind of visible impact of global warming on shorebirds. However, Trevor quickly taught me that this one aspect of human impact can not be separated from the issue as a whole. Global warming, as well as other more immediate issues like pollution and the effects of our desire for beachfront housing, have combined to threaten the population of shorebirds.

Trevor is a self-described 'weekend twitcher', at least when living in the UK. A 'twitcher', Trevor explains, is someone who will drop everything to go and see a rare bird if they hear of a sighting.

"Occasionally I'd go in a hurry," Trevor laughs, "but most often if the bird was still around at the weekend I'd mosey up there and take in a few other things as well." Trevor's travels have taken him from Asia to Africa to South America, and have allowed him to observe 6,000 out of an estimated 10,000 species of birds. However, as a long-time resident of Sandstone Point it is not surprising that his priority appears to be for the birds which share his coastal home.

While Trevor laments the diminishing population of shorebirds he is refreshingly optimistic that people's attitudes can be changed.

"There are people who really do care and want to help," explains Trevor, "and there are people who just don't know but would probably like to help ... I think education is the only way that we'll have any chance."

Trevor is currently writing a pamphlet detailing the shorebirds of Pumicestone Passage. It is through works like these that he seeks to educate tourists, local government, developers and residents regarding the need to protect and preserve the fragile foreshores of Bribie Island.

Trevor wonderfully rejects the 'dreary old phrase reeled out by politicians:  "let's preserve this for our children and our children's children."' Instead, says Trevor, "We should be preserving it for them, the shorebirds."

This article was written by Genevieve Dwyer as part of an assignment in 2008.

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