5 Wholesome gifts for a birdwatcher

One way to guarantee a close-up look at the birds in your garden is to bring them all the way to the house. This bird feeder by HOMEBIRD is solidly built with strong suction cups that you can affix to your windows, giving you an unobstructed view of your winged visitors. 

Its award-winning design allows you to observe the birds from all four sides, while the suction cups were made to be truly long-lasting (reviews generally attest to their high quality). The removable seed tray underneath can be refilled without fuss or mess. 

What’s handy is that, by fixing it in a high enough position on your window, you can keep the feeder out of reach from predatory cats or opportunistic squirrels and rats. 

Encouraging review: “The suction cups are really strong and it feels very sturdy. The design of the bird feeder is very attractive and looks very snazzy. We love how the food tray can be removed for cleaning and refilling and inside the box is a leaflet with lots of information about different birds and what they like to eat which is very helpful.

It’s only been on the window for a week and we have had birds coming to feed from it already.”

Nikon was a firm favourite in 2023 for its Monarch M5 binoculars, which offer excellent magnification and clarity for birders on a budget. 

With a field of view of 112m per 1,000m, and a close focus of 2.5m, the Monarch M5 is ideally designed for scanning the skies for birds of prey—or a more detailed look at the birds in your garden.

The multi-layer coated lenses and Dielectric high-reflective multilayer prism coating give the images a surprising brightness and clarity, so you can observe each bird’s plumage in vivid colour. 

The rubber eye cups and high-eyepoint design make these a comfortable pair of binoculars to wear for long periods outdoors—and you won’t even have to remove your spectacles. Weighing just 640g, it’s a good lightweight model to bring on ambitious walks.

Encouraging review: “These binoculars are excellent. Bright clear image and light weight. 8x42 gives you excellent magnification and good field of view. Very well made and robust. Excellent for bird watching.”

This beautifully illustrated book draws readers into the mysterious world of Britain’s favourite bird, the red robin—a familiar sight in all winter gardens, but as naturalist Stephen Moss demonstrates, one we hardly know.

Mingling compelling storytelling with biological fact, Moss guides us through a year in the life of the robin, from the moment it hatches from its egg to its all too timely mortality—robins tend to live a mere 13 months, adding to their precious quality.

While investigating this bold little bird’s day-to-day, Moss also offers insights into how the robin became such a beloved cultural icon—one synonymous with Christmas, Victorian postcards and Mary Lennox’s secret garden. 

A delightful read for anyone who enjoys communing with this red-breasted garden guest—and if you’re looking for further reading, its sequel The Owl: A Biography was published in 2023. 

Encouraging review: “This is a fascinating book, an easy read and full of interesting facts about robins. The breakdown by month is a really helpful structure, so I can dip into the book again to see what 'my' robins are up to at various times of year. Highly recommended and a great gift for anyone who enjoys watching the garden birds.”

Every good birding expedition needs a steaming hot flask of tea, which this beautifully illustrated reusable bottle from Eco Chic will more than serve. 

Decorated with lifelike drawings of classic British birds, like the magpie, the starling and the chuffinch, this bottle combines a natural aesthetic with practicality. Its thermal qualities keep hot drinks warm for up to 12 hours, and cold drinks refreshingly cool for 24 hours.

It features a leak-proof airtight lid for preventing spills in your bag, and is made out of a rust-proof stainless steel, ensuring its durability for years to come.

Encouraging review: “This is the perfect gift for my gardener—a keen bird watcher.”

Rendered in exquisite detail, botanical artist Sarah Ogilby captures the intricate engineering of birds when they build their homes. 

Less a biological study and more an account of the delights that lay in discovering nature, the book contains dozens of paintings of birds nests that Ogilvy herself has stumbled on, with short notes on how she found them—or simply what she likes about them.

Ogilvy began the project after finding a chaffinch nest while tidying her garden, which inspired an obsessive search for other nests. Slowly, she uncovered the signature flourishes for each species, with different preferred materials, structures and habitats. 

This reads like a love letter to the simple joy of observing wildlife, and offers an alternative window into the lives of birds.

Encouraging review: “This is a beautiful book. The drawings are exquisite and the commentary provides all you want to know about the nest itself with additional facts about the birds that made and used it. Books on wild flowers, trees, birds and mammals are numerous, but this is the first book I've seen to help you find out more about these fascinating constructions.”