A Song Thrush outside the supermarket? A Brambling in the bike shed? A Peregrine on a pylon? What will you see on your Birding Lunch?
Spend one hour watching the birds where you work.
This April, Bird Watching magazine is asking us all to spend at least one lunch hour away from our desks, discovering the wildlife on our doorstep.
Birding Lunch has been launched to encourage us all to appreciate the simple pleasures of watching the wildlife all around us – in areas we’d possibly never have considered hotspots for nature.
Whether you work in a busy city centre, in the countryside or on an industrial estate, there are birds all around us – especially during early April, when migrating birds could turn up anywhere.
Bird Watching columnist and One Show regular David Lindo, known as The Urban Birder, knows this more than anyone.
David says: “Over the years, I have made many discoveries whilst indulging in lunchtime urban birding strolls. Whilst munching on my sandwiches I have had surprise encounters with singing Black Redstarts, watched garrulous flocks of berry gobbling Waxwings and very recently, witnessed inner London’s first ever Bearded Tits in Hyde Park.
“Talking a walk at lunchtime is not just about seeing unusual birds. It just great to find that there is a wealth of birdlife to be seen just outside of our workplaces. Just look up!”
Taking part in Birding Lunch couldn’t be simpler. Download the poster from birdwatching.co.uk/birdinglunch and put it up at your workplace, school or community centre. Then, on at least one lunchtime from 1-5 April, spend an hour exploring your neighbourhood and recording what birds you see, then complete the results form on our website.
If you’re an experienced birdwatcher, why not lead a birding walk from your workplace, to spread the word and show your colleagues what they’re missing.
Birdwatching.co.uk/birdinglunch