Kirsty Costa didn't grow up with binoculars around her neck. Her birding life began in the first week of Melbourne's pandemic lockdown, on a dawn walk with her dog when a strange, wide-eyed shorebird appeared in the reeds of her local wetland. It turned out to be a Latham's snipe, a species that migrates every year between Japan and Australia, and something about that discovery, a bird she'd never known was living on her doorstep, changed how she saw the world around her.

That single sighting became Weekend Birder, now one of the most-listened-to science and nature podcasts in Australia, built around the idea that you don't need to be an expert, or even call yourself a birdwatcher, to fall in love with the birds already sharing your neighbourhood.

In this episode, Kirsty joins Chris as the show's first Australian and first non-British guest, to talk about the difference between birders, birdwatchers, and twitchers, why she gets more joy from a surprise garden visitor than a guaranteed rare bird, the mental health science behind why birdwatching works as informal mindfulness, and what a two-week birding trip through Australia would actually look like.

Episode Takeaways:

• Kirsty's spark bird story: how a Latham's snipe on a Melbourne dawn walk during lockdown turned into Weekend Birder
• Birder vs. birdwatcher vs. twitcher, and why Kirsty calls herself a "bird noticer" at heart
• Why the surprise of an unplanned sighting means more to her than the guarantee of a rare bird everyone's chasing
• A rapid-fire tour through Australian birding: where to start, what to see, and the best-kept regional secrets
• The neuroscience of birdwatching as mindfulness, and why it can leave you "a totally different person" after one walk

Episode Timestamps:

• 03:44 Pandemic Spark Bird
• 06:48 Birder vs Birdwatcher
• 08:34 Twitching Ethics Debate
• 14:25 Melbourne Birding Boom
• 17:38 Two Week Australia Plan
• 25:02 Digital Bird Lists
• 25:45 Backyard Birds With Names
• 27:05 Tawny Frogmouth Devotion
• 29:25 Why Weekend Birder
• 35:49 Birding As Mindfulness

Important Links & Resources:

• Follow My Birding Life on Instagram
• Subscribe to My Birding Life on YouTube
• Weekend Birder Website
• Listen to Kirsty's Podcast
• Follow Kirsty on Instagram

He's one of the most recognisable names in birding and he's spent 20 years making the case that you don't need to travel to wild, remote places to find birds worth watching. You just need to look up.

Born and raised in Wembley, North London, David Lindo taught himself to bird as a child with no mentor and no one around him who shared the interest. That self-taught curiosity became a mission: get people living in urban areas connected to nature through birds, wherever they are in the world.

Along the way he's been named one of the seven most influential people in wildlife by BBC Wildlife Magazine, written books from The Urban Birder to Tales from Concrete Jungles, and birded in over 400 cities across the globe.

In this episode, recorded to mark the 20th anniversary of The Urban Birder brand, David joins Chris to talk about how a chance BBC Springwatch screen test in 2006 turned a marketing idea into a life's mission, why he thinks the biggest barrier to birding is the myth that you need expertise first, his own experience with depression and a more recent vestibular migraine diagnosis, and why nature, even just outside your window, has the power to change how you feel.

Episode Takeaways:

• How The Urban Birder was born the night before a BBC Springwatch screen test in 2006
• Why David believes the biggest stumbling block for new birders is thinking they need knowledge before they start
• Birding, burnout, and his 2024 vestibular migraine diagnosis
• Birding in 400+ cities and why the ones with nothing written about them online excite him most

Episode Timestamps:

• 03:16 — Urban Birder Origins
• 06:30 — Springwatch Breakthrough
• 09:33 — Urban Birding Goes Global
• 10:33 — Changing Views on City Birding
• 15:00 — Getting People Started
• 21:57 — Doorstep Birding Surprises
• 25:27 — Birding and Mental Health
• 27:28 — Health Crash and Recovery
• 29:28 — Nature as Therapy
• 30:12 — 400 Cities of Birding
• 32:49 — Why Urban Birding Works
• 35:09 — New Birders New Voices
• 42:43 — Books and What’s Next

Important Links & Resources:

• Follow My Birding Life on Instagram
• Subscribe to My Birding Life on YouTube
• The Urban Birder
• Follow David on Instagram

What happens when someone who listens for a living turns their ears to the natural world? Branwen Munn is a professional DJ, music producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in West Wales and a birder with an infectious passion for the outdoors. In 2024, she embarked on a Big Year alongside her parents, travelling the length and breadth of the UK in search of as many species as possible. In 2026, the National Trust chose her to front their year of community birding events across West Wales, leading walks, spotlighting a Bird of the Month, and building something genuinely special along the way.

In this episode, Chris sits down with Branwen to dig into the highs, the logistical headaches, and the beautiful messiness of planning a UK Big Year, plus her refreshingly honest take on what kind of birder she really is.

Episode Takeaways:

• How to plan a UK Big Year — Branwen breaks down her approach: start with habitats, cross-reference with the seasons, build a spreadsheet (or several), and don't underestimate the logistics of fitting it around real life
• The numbers game — She ended 2024 on 176 species, aiming for 200. Why the early months gave her almost half her total — and why motivation gets harder as the year goes on
• The Skye Christmas that wasn't — A week on the Isle of Skye in December to chase white-tailed eagles, a full week of rain, and a single beautiful day on the Sleat Peninsula that almost made it worth it
• Apps and tools for tracking your year — Why Branwen landed on BTO BirdTrack to log sightings, and how having the data in one place changed her relationship with the records
• The ethics of the tick — When does a bird count? Branwen talks through her decision to remove a snow goose from the list, the Pallid Harrier that keeps returning to Llanelli Wetlands, and why she's firmly not a twitcher
• Birding as a trans person — Branwen reflects candidly and warmly on her experience in the birding community, and why it's one of the most welcoming spaces she's found
• The National Trust project — How a talk about her Big Year at Dinefwr turned into a full year of community birding events across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, and Ceredigion — complete with walks, crafts, a community species log, and a celebration disco in December

Episode Timestamps:

• 02:08 - What Is A Big Year
• 04:25 - Results And Birding Style
• 07:01 - Vlogging Origins
• 08:54 - Mindful Birding Moment
• 10:31 - Planning The Big Year
• 12:11 - Budget And Family Team
• 14:35 - Skye Setback Story
• 17:18 - Birding Then and Now
• 22:03 - Staying Motivated Midyear
• 25:03 - Tracking With BirdTrack
• 27:34 - Local Lifer Highlights
• 29:39 - Birding Community
• 32:30 - Identity and Inclusion
• 34:47 - Counting Questionable Ticks
• 38:45 - Fair Weather Birder Reflections
• 41:24 - National Trust Big Year

Important Links & Resources:

• Follow My Birding Life on Instagram
• Subscribe to My Birding Life on YouTube
• Follow Branwen on Instagram