Bird Watching

Bird Watching is Britain’s best-selling birdwatching magazine. Each issue is packed with expert advice on when, where and how to see more birds, from common garden visitors to the most elusive rarities. There are features from some of British birdwatching’s best-known names, superbly illustrated by the work of the world’s best bird photographers, plus comprehensive coverage of all the latest sightings, guides to the best birdwatching sites, ID masterclasses, news and reviews of all the latest gear.

Welcome

BIRDING QUESTION • We ask this month’s contributors: What’s your most suprising sighting ever?

...and the Bird Watching team’s answers

YOUR BIRDING MONTH

FIVE TO FIND IN NOVEMBER • The absolute and unarguable thrills of September and October are over, but November may still have a few choice birds up its sleeve. Who knows, there may even be a few you can add to your #My200BirdYear list this month. Try these five great birds for starters.

RARITY PREDICTOR

SEADUCKS IN NUMBERS

Dabbling ducks

UK TIDES NOVEMBER • The times below are for high tide, when waders and wildfowl will be pushed closer to dry land...

Beyond Birdwatching • Avoid succumbing to the murk of late autumn by searching for some surprising sources of colour, suggests James Lowen

Weedon’s World • The slow start to the ‘vis mig’ season is making Mike look back to last year’s autumnal glories and yearn for more excitement

Eagle festival success • The Scottish town of Moffat celebrates becoming an ‘Eagle Town’

GRUMPY OLD BIRDER • This month, Bo talks about the need to educate the youth, and forget about profiteering...

NEWS IN BRIEF

Balcony BIRDING • Even if you don’t have your own garden, you can let the birds come to you, as the lockdowns have shown…

GETTING INVOLVED

5 steps to becoming a balcony birder

Make your garden a five-star location for birds • In the second part of Iona Chisholm’s look at how your garden can provide for birds, she recommends a step-by-step approach

All there in BLACK & WHITE • Discover the family of black and white birds that call our coastline home year round

Kes Country • Kes is a classic film – John Miles tracked down some of the inspirations for it, and looked at how the area it was based in has become a birding hotspot...

national TREASURE • “The need of quiet, the need of air, and I believe the sight of sky and of things growing, seem human needs...” Octavia Hill, Co-founder of the National Trust, 1888

Black-tailed Godwit • There is much more to the feeding technique of Black-tailed Godwits than meets the eye

ID Challenge • This month’s challenge is all about reedbed birds. How many can you name?

Answers & solutions • Check your answers against our explanations. Remember, as ever, there are no ‘trick’ birds or extreme rarities among those here

ID Tips & tricks • Here are a few extra tips to help you to identify reedbed birds

GO BIRDING • 10 GREAT SITES FOR BRILLIANT BIRDWATCHING

Reader Shots

YOUR VIEW • PHOTOS, LETTER, TWEETS, QUESTIONS – HAVE YOUR SAY

Your Questions • Send all your birding questions to birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk and our experts will give you the answers

Tales of the UNEXPECTED! • You could just be looking in the wrong place at the right time when you spy something unusual

SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS SPRING 2022 • Join the Bird Watching team for some fabulous birding in Grantown-on-Spey next spring…

What’s included

LONDON WETLAND CENTRE • Every winter, a close female friend and I make our annual visit to the WWT’s London Wetland Centre in the hope of finding her a Bittern. We’ve been attempting this...