Why Do I Love Watching Birds So Much? By Tom Beasley

I didn't really think much about birds until two years ago. I'd always loved penguins, which have been my favourite animal ever since I was small, and I would regularly wander past the charity-run aviary in Bournemouth during my student days to catch a glimpse of their resident golden pheasant. Other than that, though, I was mostly ambivalent to our feathered friends. But then I moved back up to Coventry and, for the first time since childhood, I lived somewhere with a decent garden.

Since then, I've devoted a lot of time to getting the right array of bird feeders and food mixes to attract as diverse an array of avian buddies as possible to my garden. My office overlooks where the feeder sits and so I have a great vantage point to see any visitors. Dozens of starlings and blue tits have occasionally been joined by the local great spotted woodpecker, a delightful family of goldfinches, and even a watchful sparrowhawk on one particular day.

Interestingly, I'm not alone in nursing a burgeoning affection for my local wildlife. According to research published by the RSPB earlier this year, the popularity of birdwatching as a hobby has risen by 216% among my own millennial age group and by 66% among Gen Z. It seems like you stand just as much chance of keeping Gen Z occupied with a family of finches as you do with TikTok. That's perhaps a surprise, but it's a welcome one.

I think this points to a commonly held misunderstanding about my demographic and those younger than myself. The reason attention spans have tumbled is because our world moves at a breakneck pace. We can communicate with every person we know instantly. We can consume any bit of information ever learned by a human being instantly. If Amazon has its way, we'll soon be able to do our shopping almost instantly. Everything moves like a runaway train, and that takes a mental toll – something older generations simply cannot comprehend.

Against that backdrop, it's easier to see why birdwatching appeals. It is, by its very nature, a game of patience, in which the world has the opportunity to slow down a little. As one 20-something told The Guardian in May, “It’s a moment of peace and a way to reconnect with nature, and with myself.” For a generation brought up on Pokémon collections, as well, it's very much a real-world chance to “catch 'em all” and see as many of your local species as possible.

Watching the bird population of Coventry flutter past my window has been a lovely pastime for me over the last few years. It's an invaluable way to slow down, experience the world in all of its majesty, and quieten some of the worries and stresses of life in 2026.

With all of this in mind, I was very excited to receive a special bird feeder for my birthday – one with a built-in camera that automatically takes photos and videos when it detects movement. I thought I stood a chance of getting some really cool shots of various birds. For now, though, I've just got nine gigabytes of blurry squirrel backside. You can't win them all.

© 2026 Tom Beasley

Tom Beasley is a freelance film journalist, Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic and podcaster
now living in Coventry. He can be reached at tomjbeasley@gmail.com.