Birdwatching Resources

Binoculars/ Telescopes
SOC HQ at Waterston House, Aberlady; RSPB reserve shops at RSPB Lochwinnoch and Loch Leven; and Viking Optical in Edinburgh all have an excellent range of optics for sale and advice on hand (see the SOC Guide to Choosing Binoculars).

Always try before you buy – keep an eye out for the SOC Optics Demo days at Waterston House. While Covid measures are still in place, these events are being run on an appointment basis. Email [email protected] if you would like to be notified of the next demo or call 01875 871330. Alternatively, follow the SOC on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ScotlandsBirdClub

Field guides
Lots to choose from but the best is Collins Bird Guide (2nd Edition), which covers all species in Europe so great deal of info. Other good guides are:
  • British Birds An excellent pocket version of Britain’s Birds and highly recommended.
  • Britain's Birds (2nd Edition): An Identification Guide to the Birds of Britain and Ireland By Rob Hume, a very good comprehensive guide using photographs.
  • Collins BTO Guide to British Birds Very good with up-to-date info using photographs and maps.
  • The Crossley ID Guide An interesting approach to bird identification worth a look, again using photographs.
  • Birds by Character (The Fieldguide to Jizz Identification) Another title by Rob Hume. It outof-print but a very useful guide if you can find it second hand.
  • The Helm Guide to Bird Identification Not strictly a field guide but an essential reference tool, which looks at confusion/tricky-to-identify species and features great illustrations plus really good identification information.
  • Bird ID Insights By Dominic Couzens, this is a similarly excellent reference tool with succinct information on the more difficult and confusion species.

Reference books
  • Forrester et al. The Birds of Scotland. The Scottish Ornithologists’ Club, Aberlady. Available on disc.
  • Cocker, M., Maybe, R. Birds Britannica. Chatto and Windus.
  • Balmer et al. Bird Atlas 2007 – 2011. The Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland. BTO
  • Gartshore, N. The Birdwatchers Yearbook 2020. Calluna Books, Dorset.
  • Ward, M. Bird Identification and Fieldcraft. New Holland, London.
  • The Birds of the Firth of Clyde, H.F. & G. Witherby.

Local Bird Reports
These annual reports are excellent sources of information on numbers of species that have been seen and the location within the reporting region. 
Check the full list of the latest reports along with details of how to obtain a copy.

Scottish Bird Report An excellent searchable on-line resource compiling species accounts from past Local Bird Reports: https://www.the-soc.org.uk/about-us/online-scottish-bird-report

Other Reports
Magazines/ Journals
  • Scottish Birds – the SOC’s quarterly journal, for birdwatchers and research ornithologists alike
  • Birdwatching – excellent monthly magazine with lots of good very readable features.
  • Birdwatch – in-depth, very good magazine.
  • British Birds – the Journal of British Birdwatching. In-depth, advanced. Available via subscription only. Excellent e-newsletter.
  • We have a hand picked selection of Clyde Area related articles that you can read.

Websites & Apps
Bird sounds identification
  • CD’s - Many to choose from but Identify British Birds from Birdguides (MP3) or Collins Bird Songs and Calls (Geoff Sample) are good.
  • BTO Learning Bird Songs and Calls CD is very good.
  • Teach Yourself Bird Sounds – 2xCD set covering garden and woodland bird songs (CJ Wildbird Foods Ltd) is very good and highly recommended.
  • RSPB Guide to Birdsong by Adrian Thomas is a superb introduction to bird songs and calls (Book/ CD/ Digital download). Highly recommended.
  • Birdwatching With Your Eyes Closed (An Introduction to Birdsong) by Simon Barnes is a good readable introduction to bird song and calls.
  • A really excellent in-depth approach to learning and understanding bird calls is The Sound Approach to birding by Mark Constantine.
  • Tweet of the Day: A Year of Britain’s Birds by Brett Westwood and Stephan Moss. Based on the Radio 4 series this an excellent introduction to birdsounds. Radio 4 series available on iplayer.
  • http://www.xeno-canto.org – excellent library of bird calls and songs from around the world
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