When to Watch Wildlife

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© PMcS 2006

Birds

• Bird species descriptions - personal notes about British birds
• Bird song - advice on common bird song and access to recordings on the web.
   
• The birding year - birding highlights through out the year
• Movements of birds in Britain (month by month) - bird movements throughout the year in Britain
• The When to Watch Birds page - calendar showing when birds are in Britain and which migrate in spring and summer.
• Bird nesting times - nesting times and how they relate to food availability
• Breeding sea birds - sea birds nesting calendar.
• Webcams of the Scottish Seabird Centre
   
• Attracting birds to your garden
• Nest boxes

External link: COMPUTERBIRDING quiz - a fun bird ID quiz - very addictive.

In the world of birds and web sites the Fat Birder is king.  See their top 500 (!) recommendations at http://www.birdingtop500.com/

Birds

We all love birds (well most of us do anyway).  For many watching birds in the garden was the first thrill that lead to a lifetime of enjoyment learning about nature.

For a personal view, click here to see the list of the most commonly spotted bird species in Britain, along with W2WW comments and observations.

What to see and when...

There are always birds of interest to see throughout the year.  In spring and summer many species visit our shores to breed, with the countryside coming alive with bird song.

For a quick guide go to the Birding Year page.

Britain is particularly important for its populations of breeding sea birds.

To see which birds migrate to Britain, and which live here all year round, go to the When to Watch Birds page.

Autumn and Spring present exciting times as birds migrate in and out of Britain, and passage migrants drop by.  In winter birds from the arctic regions escape the harsh northern climes and move south to spend several months here.  Many bird species which we regard as residents have their numbers boosted by birds from northern Europe e.g. great tits and bull finches.

Also as seasons change resident birds move around, especially when the breeding season is over.  Therefore you never quite know what you might see.

Birds in your garden

Bird watching is often the first introduction that many people get to wildlife, and as birds can easily encouraged to visit gardens, small efforts can yield very rewarding results.  Click here to see how to attract birds to your garden.

Conservation of declining one bird species (the great crested grebe) gave rise to the RSPB and a general change in emphasis regarding attitudes to natural history.  This lead the way to the appreciation and conservation of wildlife that we now consider to be the norm.

What's that bird...?

You can do no better than visiting the RSPB's web site, linked below, to access the British birds species list, along with songs and images etc. - a fantastic resource:

http://www.rspb.org.uk

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdidentifier/form.aspx

Of course the British Trust for Ornithology is also a very comprehensive site:

http://www.bto.org

For another site which provides excellent bird-by-bird information (although not so wide ranging as the RSPB site) see http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/birdindex.htm.

The Birds of Britain web site also lists many of the more common birds of Britain.

You may also like to visit these sites for bird photographs:

• Bird Forum gallery
• Digital Wildlife

Bird song

For a more information about birds and their songs go to the Bird song page.

Recommended web sites:

On the BirdForum site birders reports their latest sightings: go to BirdForum "Your Birding Day"

Also the latest bird sightings can be seen on the bird track site.