My Birding Life

Recorded live on the Whinchat stage at Global Bird Fair, this is the second episode we're publishing from that day, bringing Chris together with wildlife photographer Andy Green, a Kent-based creative known for his ultra-detailed close-up bird photography, co-host of The WildX Podcast alongside Adam Jukes and Mike Phelps, and founder of The Wild Den, an online community built around nature, creativity, and mental wellbeing. After turning 40, Andy set out to make wildlife his full-time work, and he's never looked back.

In this conversation, Chris and Andy dig into the New Forest moment that started it all, the "still point" theory behind Andy's most memorable wildlife encounters, the ongoing blur between birding and bird photography, and why Andy built The Wild Den to bring community and joy back into sharing creative work online. They round things off with a rapid-fire audience segment covering spark birds, dream destinations, and crucially, the best birding snacks.

Episode Takeaways:

• The New Forest Robin That Started It All: Andy's very first proper wildlife shoot in 2000, where a robin, a brambling, and a jay all landed within reach and hooked him for good.
• The "Still Point": The idea of a moment where everything goes quiet except you and the animal in front of you, illustrated by Andy's first encounter with an otter on Mull.
• Why The Wild Den Exists: Andy's answer to social media negativity and algorithm fatigue: a community space for chat, challenges, and in-person meetups, built to make birding and photography fun again.
• Content Creation Without the Pressure: Andy's advice for anyone hesitant to start posting: do it because you enjoy it, ignore the comparison trap, and expect it to take years, not overnight.

Episode Timestamps:

• 03:03 - Origin Story
• 03:55 - Making Ordinary Pop
• 06:25 - Hide Versus Wild
• 09:33 - Nature as Reset
• 10:48 - Still Point Moments
• 12:35 - Birding Meets Cameras
• 15:00 - Why The Wild Den
• 18:27 - Group Walk Dynamics
• 19:41 - Building a Safe Community
• 24:26 - Memories Over Metrics
• 28:29 - Dream Trips and Lifers

Important Links & Resources:

• Follow My Birding Life on Instagram
• Subscribe to My Birding Life on YouTube
• Follow Andy on Instagram
• The Wild Den

Recorded live from the Whinchat Podcasting Stage at Global Bird Fair 2026, sponsored by Swarovski Optik, this episode is the first of two shows Chris recorded in front of an audience at the fair.

His guest is Nick Acheson, naturalist, writer, broadcaster, and a regular contributor to BBC Springwatch, known for pairing sharp field knowledge with a genuine gift for storytelling. Nick is based in North Norfolk, where he's a passionate advocate for conservation, and is the author of two books: The Meaning of Geese (2023 East Anglian Book of the Year) and This Wild Dream.

The conversation centres on Norfolk Wildlife Trust's 100th anniversary, from its founding in 1926 to the ice-age ponds of Thompson Common, before turning to Nick's own birding life: a childhood that never really had a "before," a daily 5am ritual that's more about healing than ticking species, and a closing reflection on why birds should never be treated as a currency.

Episode Takeaways:

• 100 years of Norfolk Wildlife Trust: The story starts in 1926, when Dr Sidney Long and 11 friends raised the money to buy Cley Marshes for around £5,000. Nick traces how the trust grew from a small, land-holding organisation into one managing more than 50 nature reserves across 5,500 hectares of Norfolk today.
• The pingos of Thompson Common: Nick explains these ice-age ponds, formed as the Devensian glaciation retreated 12,000 years ago, and how Norfolk Wildlife Trust has used LiDAR to find pingos filled in by farmers and restore them, with rare wetland seeds still viable in the silt and springing straight back to life.
• A Birding Life with No Beginning: Nick can't remember a time before birds. Growing up in North Norfolk, three school biology teachers filled his head with species and normalised birding trips that most people would consider extraordinary.
• The 5am Ritual: Nick walks the same route every morning in spring, summer, and autumn, not to chase species but to connect. He describes crying at the first willow warbler of the year and knowing exactly which week each returning bird will start singing.

Episode Timestamps:

• 04:04 - Norfolk Trust Origins
• 06:49 - Land Advice And Habitats
• 09:05 - Reserve Success Stories
• 10:07 - 1976 Royal Milestone
• 12:26 - Nick Birding Beginnings
• 16:32 - Thompson Common Pingos
• 19:12 - Pond Restoration Wins
• 21:11 - Norfolk Roots and World Travel
• 21:55 - Stories Behind This Wild Dream
• 24:19 - Birding as a Doorway
• 26:39 - Finding Nature Again

Important Links & Resources:

• Follow My Birding Life on Instagram
• Subscribe to My Birding Life on YouTube
• Follow Nick on Instagram
• Nick's Website

Simon Owen is a Manchester-based filmmaker and photographer, the founder of Standby Productions, and the creative force behind Wildest Ones, a YouTube series that interviews people whose lives have been shaped by wildlife and the natural world. In this episode, Simon talks Chris through a childhood spent on RSPB stopovers with his dad, a detour through skateboard filmmaking that quietly taught him the patience wildlife photography demands, and the string of hard years, a business hit hard by COVID, a breakup, that sent him back outdoors and, eventually, into making Wildest Ones.

The conversation covers the three-chapter structure behind every Wildest Ones episode, the moments that have caught Simon off guard while filming other people's stories, turning half an acre of garden into a nesting site for goldfinches and great tits, keeping a balcony bird list in the middle of Manchester, and how a business decision to give back during COVID turned into becoming Lancashire Wildlife Trust's first-ever ambassador.

Episode Takeaways:

• Why Wildest Ones Exists: The series is built around three chapters for every guest: connection to the wild, mental wellbeing, and conservation, and it's deliberately open to anyone with that connection, not just birders.
• A Masterclass in a Hide From a Stranger: While struggling to find a little stint at Abberton Reservoir, Simon was helped by a birder in his 70s who found the bird in five minutes and stayed to chat for an hour, one of many reminders, Simon says, that he's never met an unfriendly birder.
• Building a Darden for Goldfinches: After moving to a half-acre plot eight years ago and noticing an odd lack of birdsong, Simon and his family deliberately built up feeders, boxes, and water, finally getting goldfinches to nest three years in, with great tits and great spotted woodpeckers nesting there for the first time this year.
• From Peatland Film to First-Ever Ambassador: A post-COVID decision to give back through Standby Productions led to a Save the Peatlands film for Lancashire Wildlife Trust that helped shift compost retail legislation, and two years later Simon became the Trust's first ambassador.

Episode Timestamps:

• 02:21 - Photography Style Origins
• 03:22 - Childhood Birding Roots
• 09:38 - Wildest Ones
• 18:04 - Birding Passion and Raptors
• 20:26 - Garden Birds and Feeders
• 22:13 - Balcony Bird List
• 24:27 - What Makes a Great Outing
• 24:44 - Chasing the Perfect Shot
• 26:42 - Surprise Wildlife Encounters
• 28:40 - Wildlife Trust Ambassador
• 35:03 - Birding With the Kids

Important Links & Resources:

• Follow My Birding Life on Instagram
• Subscribe to My Birding Life on YouTube
• Follow Simon on Instagram

Beth Sheils has built a brilliant corner of the birding world on Instagram under the name Beth The Bird Nerd, helping people, whatever their experience level, get outside and fall in love with what's around them. In this episode, her first ever podcast interview, Beth talks Chris through a birding life that started on canal walks with her dad in Bootle, the British Bird Quest she's steadily working through, and why she'd rather watch the pigeons in her garden than chase something flashy.

The conversation covers her Instagram journey, the mental health lift she gets from getting outside with a camera, her honest take on twitching and crowds at popular sites, her role as Northwest ambassador for Birds and the Belles, and how a pair of binoculars bought on Mull turned into a Viking Optical ambassadorship.

Episode Takeaways:

• A birding life she can't remember starting: Beth grew up walking the canal from Bootle to the Dock Road in Liverpool with her dad, and was correcting classmates on mute swans by infant school.
• The British Bird Quest: An open-ended hunt for 256 regularly occurring British species, currently at 169, with a return to Mull in August for the eagles.
• Why she's not a twitcher: Beth explains her clear line on rarities: if it's not on her list, she's happy to leave it be, even when a rare bird turns up close to home.
• Birds and the Belles: Her role as Northwest ambassador for the all-female birding network and why it exists.

Episode Timestamps:

• 03:47 - How Birding Began
• 05:51 - Teaching and Not Knowing
• 07:52 - Birding for Mental Health
• 11:37 - Learning Through Mistakes
• 15:19 - British Bird Quest Explained
• 23:48 - Favorite Birds and Raptors
• 25:44 - Quest Strategy Talk
• 26:15 - Seabird Trips Plans
• 27:21 - Not a Twitcher
• 30:32 - Birds and The Belles

Important Links & Resources:

• Follow My Birding Life on Instagram
• Subscribe to My Birding Life on YouTube
• Follow Beth on Instagram
• Birds and the Belles

Becca Heywood is a third-generation birder. She learned to watch birds alongside both her father and her grandfather and today she's turning that inheritance into something new, sharing South London's urban wildlife with the world. By day she works in inclusion and equity at WWF-UK, and that same lens shows up throughout this conversation with Chris.

Chris and Becca trace her path from childhood trips down the M5 spotting buzzards, through a teenage stretch of quietly shelving the hobby for fear of not being "cool," to relaunching her passion at the very end of 2025 as a way to build community after moving to London.

From there they dig into the parts of birding culture that don't always get talked about — the "all or nothing" mentality, the stereotype of who a birdwatcher is supposed to be, and why nobody is born knowing how to ID a gull.

They also swap notes on why kingfishers still feel mythical no matter how many you've seen, Becca's love affair with analog Field Notes notebooks and a pocket photo printer over yet another listing app, and a rapid-fire round that surfaces a proper nemesis bird.

Episode Takeaways:

• A Third-Generation Birder: Buzzards spotted from the back seat with her dad and grandad, birding as shared curiosity, not expertise.
• Birds With Becca, Built for Belonging: Launched 30 December 2025 to build community after a move to London, no gear or right answers required.
• Knocking Down Birding's Barriers: On the "hardcore twitcher" stereotype and why "I don't have the kit" is the easiest barrier to knock down.
• Notebooks Over Apps: Why Becca traded digital life-lists for handwritten Field Notes notebooks, plus the WWT Barnes bittern that's become her nemesis!

Episode Timestamps:

• 03:21 - Third Generation Birder
• 04:42 - Birding Shame to Joy
• 06:42 - Birding Gatekeeping
• 11:37 - Changing Birding Culture
• 15:55 - Kingfisher Magic Bird
• 23:44 - Analog Bird Notes
• 25:37 - Scrapbook Ritual
• 27:26 - eBird Backup System
• 28:04 - Keep Birding Fun
• 28:38 - Comfort and Inclusion
• 31:18 - Breaking Barriers

Important Links & Resources:

• Follow My Birding Life on Instagram
• Subscribe to My Birding Life on YouTube
• Follow Becca on Instagram

This week Chris is joined by wildlife filmmaker, presenter and storyteller Simon McCabe, who has spent over 30 years behind the camera bringing the natural world to life — from the British countryside to the wilds of Botswana. Simon writes, shoots, edits and narrates all of his own films, and his YouTube channel has become a go-to for anyone who wants their birding served up with genuine warmth and a great voice for it.

Chris and Simon trace Simon's path from childhood fishing trips and watercolour painting, through photography and into filmmaking, before diving into stories from the field — a patient wait for a bullfinch at Lackford Lakes, a puffin-hunting boat trip under the cliffs at Bempton, luxury hide life while filming goshawks in the Estonian snow, and a documentary shoot in Taiwan that picked up a couple of awards along the way.

They also swap notes on Botswana's Big Five, an unexpectedly brilliant morning of birding in Las Vegas, and what it's like attending the Global Bird Fair as a fan rather than a filmmaker!

Episode Takeaways:

• From Fishing to Film: How a childhood love of fishing and watercolour painting — including being mentored by the illustrator behind the Collins guide books — set Simon on the path to photography and, eventually, filmmaking
• Botswana's Big Five (and a Lot of Birds): Filming alongside guides, getting IDs right roughly a third of the time at first, and coming home with 99.96% accuracy after review
• Goshawks and Luxury Hides in Estonia: Filming from a heated "Wildlife Dreams" hide complete with coffee, bacon sandwiches and a timely snowstorm
• Global Bird Fair, From the Other Side of the Camera: Why Simon would attend even if he weren't filming, and what struck him most about the passion of the speakers and exhibitors

Episode Timestamps:

• 04:07 - Origins in Nature
• 04:41 - From Art to Film
• 09:27 - Bullfinch at Lackford
• 13:12 - Bempton Cliffs Tips
• 21:04 - Vegas Birding Story
• 24:53 - Next Birding Destinations
• 25:47 - Snowy Estonia Highlights
• 36:27 - Shot That Got Away
• 37:35 - Dream Spots And Lifers

Important Links & Resources:

• Follow My Birding Life on Instagram
• Subscribe to My Birding Life on YouTube
• Follow Simon on Instagram
• Simon's Website

Kirsty Costa didn't grow up with binoculars around her neck. Her birding life began in the first week of Melbourne's pandemic lockdown, on a dawn walk with her dog when a strange, wide-eyed shorebird appeared in the reeds of her local wetland. It turned out to be a Latham's snipe, a species that migrates every year between Japan and Australia, and something about that discovery, a bird she'd never known was living on her doorstep, changed how she saw the world around her.

That single sighting became Weekend Birder, now one of the most-listened-to science and nature podcasts in Australia, built around the idea that you don't need to be an expert, or even call yourself a birdwatcher, to fall in love with the birds already sharing your neighbourhood.

In this episode, Kirsty joins Chris as the show's first Australian and first non-British guest, to talk about the difference between birders, birdwatchers, and twitchers, why she gets more joy from a surprise garden visitor than a guaranteed rare bird, the mental health science behind why birdwatching works as informal mindfulness, and what a two-week birding trip through Australia would actually look like.

Episode Takeaways:

• Kirsty's spark bird story: how a Latham's snipe on a Melbourne dawn walk during lockdown turned into Weekend Birder
• Birder vs. birdwatcher vs. twitcher, and why Kirsty calls herself a "bird noticer" at heart
• Why the surprise of an unplanned sighting means more to her than the guarantee of a rare bird everyone's chasing
• A rapid-fire tour through Australian birding: where to start, what to see, and the best-kept regional secrets
• The neuroscience of birdwatching as mindfulness, and why it can leave you "a totally different person" after one walk

Episode Timestamps:

• 03:44 Pandemic Spark Bird
• 06:48 Birder vs Birdwatcher
• 08:34 Twitching Ethics Debate
• 14:25 Melbourne Birding Boom
• 17:38 Two Week Australia Plan
• 25:02 Digital Bird Lists
• 25:45 Backyard Birds With Names
• 27:05 Tawny Frogmouth Devotion
• 29:25 Why Weekend Birder
• 35:49 Birding As Mindfulness

Important Links & Resources:

• Follow My Birding Life on Instagram
• Subscribe to My Birding Life on YouTube
• Weekend Birder Website
• Listen to Kirsty's Podcast
• Follow Kirsty on Instagram

He's one of the most recognisable names in birding and he's spent 20 years making the case that you don't need to travel to wild, remote places to find birds worth watching. You just need to look up.

Born and raised in Wembley, North London, David Lindo taught himself to bird as a child with no mentor and no one around him who shared the interest. That self-taught curiosity became a mission: get people living in urban areas connected to nature through birds, wherever they are in the world.

Along the way he's been named one of the seven most influential people in wildlife by BBC Wildlife Magazine, written books from The Urban Birder to Tales from Concrete Jungles, and birded in over 400 cities across the globe.

In this episode, recorded to mark the 20th anniversary of The Urban Birder brand, David joins Chris to talk about how a chance BBC Springwatch screen test in 2006 turned a marketing idea into a life's mission, why he thinks the biggest barrier to birding is the myth that you need expertise first, his own experience with depression and a more recent vestibular migraine diagnosis, and why nature, even just outside your window, has the power to change how you feel.

Episode Takeaways:

• How The Urban Birder was born the night before a BBC Springwatch screen test in 2006
• Why David believes the biggest stumbling block for new birders is thinking they need knowledge before they start
• Birding, burnout, and his 2024 vestibular migraine diagnosis
• Birding in 400+ cities and why the ones with nothing written about them online excite him most

Episode Timestamps:

• 03:16 — Urban Birder Origins
• 06:30 — Springwatch Breakthrough
• 09:33 — Urban Birding Goes Global
• 10:33 — Changing Views on City Birding
• 15:00 — Getting People Started
• 21:57 — Doorstep Birding Surprises
• 25:27 — Birding and Mental Health
• 27:28 — Health Crash and Recovery
• 29:28 — Nature as Therapy
• 30:12 — 400 Cities of Birding
• 32:49 — Why Urban Birding Works
• 35:09 — New Birders New Voices
• 42:43 — Books and What’s Next

Important Links & Resources:

• Follow My Birding Life on Instagram
• Subscribe to My Birding Life on YouTube
• The Urban Birder
• Follow David on Instagram

What happens when someone who listens for a living turns their ears to the natural world? Branwen Munn is a professional DJ, music producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in West Wales and a birder with an infectious passion for the outdoors. In 2024, she embarked on a Big Year alongside her parents, travelling the length and breadth of the UK in search of as many species as possible. In 2026, the National Trust chose her to front their year of community birding events across West Wales, leading walks, spotlighting a Bird of the Month, and building something genuinely special along the way.

In this episode, Chris sits down with Branwen to dig into the highs, the logistical headaches, and the beautiful messiness of planning a UK Big Year, plus her refreshingly honest take on what kind of birder she really is.

Episode Takeaways:

• How to plan a UK Big Year — Branwen breaks down her approach: start with habitats, cross-reference with the seasons, build a spreadsheet (or several), and don't underestimate the logistics of fitting it around real life
• The numbers game — She ended 2024 on 176 species, aiming for 200. Why the early months gave her almost half her total — and why motivation gets harder as the year goes on
• The Skye Christmas that wasn't — A week on the Isle of Skye in December to chase white-tailed eagles, a full week of rain, and a single beautiful day on the Sleat Peninsula that almost made it worth it
• Apps and tools for tracking your year — Why Branwen landed on BTO BirdTrack to log sightings, and how having the data in one place changed her relationship with the records
• The ethics of the tick — When does a bird count? Branwen talks through her decision to remove a snow goose from the list, the Pallid Harrier that keeps returning to Llanelli Wetlands, and why she's firmly not a twitcher
• Birding as a trans person — Branwen reflects candidly and warmly on her experience in the birding community, and why it's one of the most welcoming spaces she's found
• The National Trust project — How a talk about her Big Year at Dinefwr turned into a full year of community birding events across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, and Ceredigion — complete with walks, crafts, a community species log, and a celebration disco in December

Episode Timestamps:

• 02:08 - What Is A Big Year
• 04:25 - Results And Birding Style
• 07:01 - Vlogging Origins
• 08:54 - Mindful Birding Moment
• 10:31 - Planning The Big Year
• 12:11 - Budget And Family Team
• 14:35 - Skye Setback Story
• 17:18 - Birding Then and Now
• 22:03 - Staying Motivated Midyear
• 25:03 - Tracking With BirdTrack
• 27:34 - Local Lifer Highlights
• 29:39 - Birding Community
• 32:30 - Identity and Inclusion
• 34:47 - Counting Questionable Ticks
• 38:45 - Fair Weather Birder Reflections
• 41:24 - National Trust Big Year

Important Links & Resources:

• Follow My Birding Life on Instagram
• Subscribe to My Birding Life on YouTube
• Follow Branwen on Instagram

Jon Mason has spent almost four decades as a geography teacher, an Opticron ambassador, and to a growing audience on Instagram, sharing early morning birding moments from Otmoor and beyond.

In this episode, Chris sits down with John to talk about a fascination with birds that started before he could walk, why he calls himself a birder rather than a birdwatcher, and how a heart attack a decade ago changed the way he spends his time. From spider's webs at sunrise to a nightingale nobody could see, this is a conversation about noticing more, rushing less, and why the simplest birds are often the best ones.

Episode Takeaways:

• A lifetime with birds — Jon traces his love of birds back to a highchair full of sparrows, and explains why for him birding has never been a hobby, it's just always been there.
• Birder, not birdwatcher — Why Jon relies on his ears as much as his eyes, and how an old LP called Bird Sounds in Close Up trained him to recognise calls as a boy.
• You are the lesson — Forty years of teaching geography taught John that you can't fake passion in front of students — you have to live it, out loud, on a chalk hillside with a telescope.
• The heart attack that changed everything — How a health scare ten years ago led Jon to step back from work, invest in time outdoors, and discover that nature does more for his blood pressure than medication.

Episode Timestamps:

• 03:00 — A lifetime of loving birds, starting with sparrows on a highchair
• 07:00 — Where "The Early Birder" name comes from, and a body clock tuned to the dawn chorus
• 11:00 — Sharing birding in the moment on Instagram, and the firecrest that stopped a photograph
• 13:00 — Forty years of teaching: "you are the lesson," not the one delivering it
• 24:00 — Titchwell RSPB and why it has everything
• 33:00 — Quality over quantity: spider's webs, nightingales, and not losing the point of the day
• 40:00 — The heart attack, the wake-up call, and why nature is better than medication

Important Links & Resources:

• Follow My Birding Life on Instagram
• Subscribe to My Birding Life on YouTube
• The Early Birder
• Follow Jon on Instagram