BIRDS IN CLYDE
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Birdwatching 
​Resources

Little Ringed Plover © Tommy Daniels 

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 info@the-soc.org.uk 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
  • Harris, S.J. et al. 2017. The Breeding Bird Survey 2017. British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford. Download free from https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/bbs/bbs-publications/bbs-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
  • Where to Watch Birds in Scotland SOC’s excellent free site guide app
  • BTO Bird Facts had a major revamp recently and is well worth getting to know your way round.  It has three core elements:  
    Species pages featuring facts, figures and maps.  The Trends Explorer is an interactive tool to see how a particular species is faring.  The BirdTrends Report gives an annual synthesis of the latest changes on our breeding bird populations.
    The data underpinning all these outputs comes from all the surveys undertaken by volunteers including Breeding Bird Surveys, WeBS counts and submission of records to BirdTrack.  
  • http://www.birdguides.com -Bird info, up-to-date bird news, sightings and birding products.
  • http://www.computerbirding.com - Great bird id quiz site
  • http://www.birdid.no – excellent bird id quiz site
  • Merlin Bird Id app– Bird identification app – review at https://www.birdguides.com/reviews/apps-software/merlin-bird-id-app/
  • BirdUp – Birdsound recognisation app

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

SOC is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation SC009859. Material on this website is fully protected by copyright law, and may not be used or reproduced in any form without prior written permission © SOC Clyde Branch 2022
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  • Home
  • About us
    • Outings
    • Branch Committee
    • Talks
    • CBBD22 species list
    • Join the SOC
    • Acknowledgements
  • Recording & Reporting
    • Recent sightings
    • Clyde Recording Area map
    • Clyde Bird List
    • Recording and Reporting Birds
    • Rare Bird Reporting
    • Recording and Reporting FAQ
    • Gazetteer
    • Clyde Systematic Lists >
      • 2001
      • 2002
      • 2003
      • 2004
      • 2005
      • 2006
      • 2007
      • 2008
    • Patchwork challenge
    • Photo Galleries >
      • Gallery 2021
      • Notable December 2022
    • Grapevine Archive >
      • 2023 >
        • February 2023
        • January 2023
      • 2022 >
        • December 2022
        • November 2022
        • October 2022
        • September 2022
        • August 2022
        • July 2022
        • June 2022
        • May 2022
        • April 2022
        • March 2022
        • February 2022
        • January 2022
      • 2021 >
        • December 2021
        • November 2021
        • October 2021
        • September 2021
        • August 2021
        • July 2021
        • June 2021
        • May 2021
        • April 2021
        • March 2021
        • February 2021
        • January 2021
  • Resources
    • Articles
    • What to see >
      • What-to-look-for-March
      • What-to-look-for-April
    • Birdwatching Resources
    • Bird ID
    • Online Scottish Bird Report
    • SOC birding app
    • Publications
  • Get Involved
    • How to Get Involved with the Clyde SOC
    • Discussion Group
    • Focus Species 2023 >
      • Raven
    • Clyde bird projects
    • A-Z list of Groups / Projects
    • Further afield
  • Young Birders
    • SOC Youth Connect