Autumn is prime time for many things: hot chocolate, homemade soup, early nights…. But it’s also the perfect season for birdwatching, thanks to increased migration and the arrival of winged visitors to the UK.
After nesting in Scandinavian, Icelandic and Russian forests, many birds migrate south and west to escape freezing conditions. Those who come to our shores in autumn include redwings, fieldfares, brambling and snow bunting finches, snipes, woodcocks, short-eared owls and goldcrests.
Not only is birdwatching a great excuse to get outdoors, research shows that spending time watching birds can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, and help you be more mindful in your everyday life, too.
A study published in last year found that just half an hour of bird-watching a week can make you healthier and happier, and feel more connected with nature.
The researchers asked just over 100 students to engage in 30 minutes of bird-watching per week for five weeks, and found that exposure to birds may be more influential on our mental wellbeing than other forms of nature. So how can you make the most of our bird population this autumn?
“…Not only is birdwatching a great excuse to get outdoors, research shows that spending time watching birds can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression…”
It’s all in the approach
One study suggests that the mental benefits of birdwatching lie in our intention. More than 150 people took part in a 30-minute birdwatching activity, identifying which species they could see in their garden. They were randomly allocated to either the ‘joy’ group – who rated their feeling of joy on seeing each species – or the ‘count’ group, who were tasked with counting the number of birds of each species.
While all the participants benefited from a mental health boost, those in the ‘joy’ group had the biggest drops in anxiety. The findings suggest that consciously activating a sense of joy heightens the psychological benefits of watching birds.
Where to look…
Much like humans, birds all have different ideas of what makes the perfect home.
For example, goldcrests (the UK’s smallest bird – weighing in at an average of just 6g) spend most of their time flitting around trees looking for insects, particularly conifers and in mixed woodland, and in parks and gardens with large trees.
Fieldfare migrate here in autumn to feast on berries in the countryside, along hedgerows and in parks. And redwings, who visit the UK in September and October, can be spotted alongside starlings and fieldfares in trees and hedges.
Use your senses
If you can do a little research beforehand, you’ll be better equipped to know what to look for when you go birdwatching, and recognise the different species you see.
Identifying birds can be a fun challenge – and rewarding, too, when you start to learn how to distinguish between species and between males and females.
In October, for example, you can look out for the bearded tit. The males have drooping black markings on their face, while the females have a pale face and pale ginger back and tail.
And if you want to identify a redwing, look for small thrush-like birds with a rusty red smear under their wings, and a white stripe above their eyes.
Over time, you’ll be able to distinguish from similar-looking birds, too. Fieldfare, for example, have brownish speckled bellies – but while they look similar to song thrushes, they have distinctive blue-grey heads.
But bird-watching isn’t just about using your eyes; your hearing can be put to good use, too. The bearded tit, for example, has a distinctive pinging call. Redwings fly in the dark, and if you go outside on a still night, you may hear them calling to each other with a soft ‘seep seep’ sound.
Goldcrest have a high-pitched ‘tsee-tsee’ call, while fieldfare have a ‘chack, chack, chack’ call that sounds like laughter.
Understanding what you see…
Learning a little bit about the behaviour of the most common birds in our skies at this time of year will allow you to better interpret their behaviour, too.
Bearded tits, for example, spend their time hidden deep within reedbeds – but in autumn, they venture out into the open.
This is because, during spring and summer, feed on invertebrates, and in the colder months, they’re harder to find. They venture out in order to swap their usual minibeastly snacks for reed seeds. They’re not able to crunch through these seeds, so they leave their home in the reeds to find grit, which they eat to help them grind up their food.
Be prepared…
Whether you’re going bird-watching on your own, or with a local group, it’s important to be prepared. You’ll need binoculars, of course, some sort of guide book of bird species, and preferably a flask of tea. You might want to take a notebook, too, to write down anything new you learn on your way.
You may wish to tie in birdwatching with exercise, and go for a walk to your local forest – but the beauty of birdwatching is that it can also be done on your doorstep.
Just remember one thing – remember to focus on the joy.
