The first issue of Birdwatch wasn’t available in the shops, but signalled the advent of real birders’ expertise into the mass market-place when it went nationwide a year later.
85 : Birdwatch magazine
1992
The first issue of Birdwatch wasn’t available in the shops, but signalled the advent of real birders’ expertise into the mass market-place when it went nationwide a year later.
Though ornithological journals had been widely published since the 19th century, as the hobby of birding became more popular to the layman, a need developed for more accessible magazines than even the less academic journals like British Birds (see pages 96–97).
Bird conservation organisations had their membership titles, of course – for example National Audubon’s Audubon Magazine (founded 1899) and the RSPB’s Birds (launched in 1903 as Bird Notes and News and latterly retitled Nature’s Home). But in the post-war period, a populist birding press was needed to cater for the growing numbers of those whose own expertise and experience was outflanking the field guides, but for whom scientific journals were too dry and detailed.
Monthly magazines would be the ideal medium for carrying the latest advances in field birding, ornithology and identification, but it took some time for any to emerge. In the US the American Birding Association’s Birding was first published in 1969, following a year as a kind of mimeographed fanzine called The Birdwatcher’s Digest; the latter title was launched as a popular monthly magazine in its own right by the Ohio-based Thompson family in 1987.
Back in Europe, the bilingual Dutch Birding took off in 1979 as a less staid continental counterpart to British Birds. It was followed in the mid-Eighties by two British launches, the generalist Bird Watching (1986) from commercial magazine publisher EMAP, and the hardcore Twitching (1987) from the team behind the Birdline news service. The latter title was renamed Birding World a year later, but as the decade came to a close the middle ground in ornithological publishing remained empty.
Catering for more serious news issues, identification problems and the growing trend towards global birding, in 1992 a new independent magazine, Birdwatch, was launched. EMAP’s response was to introduce the quarterly Birds Illustrated as a second ‘spoiler’ title to its stable at the same time, but it was less of a success and, after several lavishly produced issues, the plug was pulled. After Birdwatch’s first year as a bi-monthly, subscription-only title, it became monthly, took on staff and went on sale nationally in the newsstands.
Firmly anchored between existing periodicals and catering for an eager audience, Birdwatch remains the monthly mainstream magazine of choice for serious birders and has covered a huge range of stories, from exclusives on first British records such as Red-billed Tropicbird to the unprecedented confession of the fraudster who conned the national rarities committee into accepting a fabricated record of a Hermit Thrush in Essex (at the time, supposedly just the fifth for Britain).
While their history is in print, all the world’s birding magazines see their future at least partly online, and some – notably Birdwatch – are embracing social media and other channels. Many industry commentators continue to see a future for niche printed magazines, but only time will tell whether digital editions will take the lead from the traditional paper and ink versions.