Birdwatch

Birdwatch magazine is the UK’s number one bird watching magazine for keen birders, featuring the latest rarity reports, ID guides, optics reviews and birding holidays, plus features and news from across the world.

Birdwatch

Editer’s Note

Bonus digital content!

Taxonomic enigmas

Good reef! • Britain’s first Western Reef Heron instantly became the defining bird of spring 2026 when Simon Hugheston-Roberts identified it in Caernarfon in June. As well as sparking the biggest twitch of the year so far, news of the sighting brought previous encounters to light.

Swift response • A routine morning of bird-observatory duties erupted into excitement when an eye-catching swift shot through, sending Steve Stansfield and colleagues scrambling to confirm the identification.

Turning up the heat • May saw the weather lurch from grey and dreary to bright and disconcertingly hot. Periods of high pressure, bringing winds from the south and east, ensured plenty of dazzling drift migrants and overshoots, reports Sam Viles.

Arctic vultures and steppe shorebirds • Raptors stole the limelight once again during June, but the month also produced remarkable waders and national firsts. Ed Stubbs rounds up the action.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT MIGHT TURN UP… • BUT BIRDGUIDES WILL BE FIRST TO LET YOU KNOW!

Down in the dumps • Our columnist mourns the loss of his local landfill sites and contemplates what the future holds for gull-watching in Britain.

Driven to self-destruction • With grouse shoots being called off and the damage that the sport causes being hard to ignore, our columnist predicts that it cannot survive much longer.

Shorebird superhighways • As the first waders begin to return from their breeding grounds, bringing with them the chance of scarcer species, David Callahan explores the major flyways they use, the dangers faced on migration and why we need to worry more about all shorebird species.

Birding on the spectrum • What does it mean to experience birds, birding and the wider natural world through an autistic lens? Drawing on his own experience, Duncan Poyser examines how neurodiversity can shape our relationship with nature.

Autumn Whinchat • Few migrants encapsulate early autumn birding quite like Whinchat. Often approachable and turning up almost anywhere with suitable feeding habitat and a few prominent perches, it is always a pleasure to encounter. Ed Stubbs examines when and where to look for it, alongside the finer points of identification.

Caspian Gull’s unstoppable march • Once confined to the very east of Europe, Caspian Gull has been spreading west at a formidable pace. Josh Jones summarises its current British status.

Galicia’s greatest show • Estaca de Bares has become known as one of Europe’s premier seawatching destinations. Birders gather there to witness vast movements and to scan the waves for rarities, Antonio Sandoval Rey explains what makes this windswept Spanish headland so special.

Seabird sentinels • As the BTO’s Seabird Monitoring Programme marks its 40th anniversary, Programme Organiser Erin Taylor reflects on the discoveries and population trends revealed by one of the world’s longest-running surveys.

The confidence gap • Having found that the birding world can be intimidating for young women, Tasha Noble and Alicia Hulland have created a space that thrives on curiosity.

A new Passion for birding • Putting its stamp on the spotting-scope market, German Precision Optics’s Passion 85 APO offers a new, competitively priced alternative in the full-sized telescope sector. Mike Alibone takes a look.

Making your counts count

Top tribute to premier destination

Untangling mammal evolution

Avocet • This month’s panel includes: Keith Betton,...