We followed the birds to Canada – and discovered a global queer community as a result

I knew we wouldn’t see them, but on the plane from London to Vancouver, I looked out of the window and imagined hordes of birds flying below. Their grey pattered backs, their wings flashing in the sunlight. I had seen them only months before, in their thousands, swirling and clamouring as they were pushed off the mudflats during the high tide in Snettisham on the coast of Norfolk. I had stood and watched the spectacle with around 15 other queer people, members of the bird-watching group…