Nashville Birding, Hokkaido and Fish Owls with Graham Gerdeman

Kate MacRae, better known as Wildlife Kate, is one of the best people out there at bridging the gap between birds and the rest of the world. She does it with livestreams and a network of cameras across her wet woodland in Carmarthenshire, South West Wales. Her setup has been featured on BBC Springwatch and Countryfile. In this episode, Kate takes us from a black-and-white nest box camera hooked up to an old portable TV to a wicker basket, a handmade Clay Cavern and a Springwatch call. She also tells the story of selling up in Lichfield to chase a dream of real acreage, and what it’s like making habitat on your own. Episode Takeaways: Think Like a Photographer: A livestream should look as good as it works. Kate keeps the background well away from the perches so it blurs into soft, diffuse colour, and she uses mossy props from her own land to make every shot feel like a painting. Experiment, Then Experiment Again: Kate’s brand started with a spare nest box camera, a wicker basket and some seed. Mistakes are part of the process, and she’s never formally trained. Habitat Takes Time and Hard Graft: Her three acres hold a meadow, a quarry, hazel woodland and a copse. Three years in she has built ponds, owl boxes and a hide from an old caravan, learning skills from other people along the way. Share the Joy: Kate wants to get people who don’t normally watch birds watching birds. Her grandchildren and a new generation of young birders keep her optimistic.

Simon Barnes spent over 30 years as chief sportswriter at The Times. His books on birding, including How to Be a Bad Birdwatcher and On the Marsh, have introduced more people to the joy of birds than almost anyone's in recent years. Now in the high 30s to mid-40s for books published, he's just released his latest, How to Fly. Simon joins Chris from his hut on the edge of his Norfolk marsh, where a marsh harrier, a pair of visiting cranes and a newly singing reed bunting have all been keeping him company. We talk about the Cetti's warbler that helped sell him the house, what he learned from a year at Minsmere, and evenings on the marsh with his son Eddie. We also get into why he believes sound is every bit as important as sight, and what he learned about swifts, bumblebees and pterosaurs while researching a book dedicated to flight. Episode Takeaways: Two sides of birding: Simon describes the daily "soap opera" of small, predictable moments that give you a sense of belonging, alongside the peak moments that leave you barely able to believe what you're seeing. It's the combination that brings you back. Let the land lead: A reed bunting singing on the marsh told Simon it's slowly turning into a reed bed. The lesson from Minsmere and the World Land Trust is that if you look after the habitat, the birds follow. Ears count too: Simon argues that sound is every bit as important as sight, and he learned it from a Zambian birder who recorded around 500 species. Now Eddie calls out the Cetti's warblers from the canoe. Watch with more intent: Researching How to Fly changed how Simon watches swifts, from ambient birds to a real show of speed, gliding and manoeuvrability. Ordinary birds become extraordinary when you slow down and look properly.

Mya Bambrick has been birding since she was eight. She's now a BTO Youth Ambassador, winner of the BTO's Young Ornithologist of the Year Award and a familiar voice on Radio 4's Tweet of the Day. She works full time in conservation with Birds of Poole Harbour, and she's on a mission to get young people hooked on the hobby we all love. In this episode, Mya takes us from a street dance academy in Crawley to a hide at Warnham Local Nature Reserve, where an osprey and a kingfisher changed everything. We talk about the bird camp that shaped her path, ringing nightjars for a group of young birders, why birding is booming among young people, and how to keep the joy in birding when the camera and the phone keep pulling you away. Episode Takeaways: Find your people: A free BTO bird camp at 13 gave Mya the community she couldn't find at school. Ten years later, she's helping run one. Representation matters: Growing up in a single-parent household, with no birding role models who looked like her, drove Mya to make birding more accessible and inclusive, especially for young girls. You're a birder if you love birds: Sofa birder or seasoned twitcher, there's no right way to do it. Binoculars around your neck, and you're in. Protect the moment: Mya keeps camera days and content days separate from binoculars-only days, and she saves her eBird list until she's finished birding.

Tamerra Jones, aka the Birdwatching Baddie, picked up birding almost by accident during lockdown, looking for something slower-paced to get her outside. Three years on, the Central Florida-based birder has racked up hundreds of species, built a joyful, unapologetically fun Instagram following, and become a genuine advocate for making the hobby feel accessible to everyone. In this episode, Chris and Tamerra dig into how she went from lockdown curiosity to serious lister, why field experience and mentorship beat any app or book, and what it means to bring her full self into a hobby that hasn't always felt built for people who look like her. They also swap camera gear notes, geek out over each other's "boring" local birds, and talk through her next big trip! Episode Takeaways: From Lockdown Curiosity to Serious Birder — How a search for something slow-paced and accessible during COVID turned into three years of increasingly serious birding, out three times a week even with a full-time job Becoming a Lister — Why she tracks every sighting in real time on eBird and Merlin, needs eyes on a bird before it counts, and still considers herself very much a student A Community That Takes You Under Its Wing — The value of learning in the field from other birders over apps or books, and why the birding community has a rare, generous "fireside chat" feel The Birdwatching Baddie Identity — Reclaiming "baddie," refusing to fit a mould, and using her platform to show that birdwatching is for everyone

Ajay Tegala started volunteering on a nature reserve at 15 years old and never really left. Now the ranger at Wicken Fen, one of the National Trust's most historic reserves, Ajay has spent his career on the front line of British conservation, from seabird colonies on Blakeney Point to reed bed management on the fens. He's also a familiar face from Countryfile and Springwatch, and the author of two books, The Unique Life of a Ranger and, most recently, Wetland Diaries. In this episode, Chris sits down with Ajay for a wide-ranging chat about childhood ducks and grey herons, the long, unglamorous road into ranger work, and what it actually takes to keep a wetland reserve wet. They cover the return of breeding cranes after 500 years, the tidal surge that upended his first winter on the Norfolk coast, and the challenge of turning a life's work into a book without losing what makes it personal. Episode Takeaways: Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer — The unglamorous but essential path into ranger work: a year of unpaid volunteering on the Norfolk coast, working bar jobs to get by, before a seasonal role finally opened up Life on Blakeney Point — Six months living on a remote shingle spit working with seals and seabirds, a kingfisher moment that confirmed he'd found the right path, and a tidal surge that smashed up the reserve just as things were going well Managing a wetland for wildlife — The grazing livestock, winter scrub clearance, and the moment each November when a tap is turned and the water and the wigeon, arrive almost overnight The return of the cranes — Cranes began nesting at Wicken for the first time in over 500 years, five years in the making before the first chick finally fledged