How birdwatching has become an unexpected hit with Gen Z

For birdwatcher Ben Smith, the perfect day begins just before sunrise with a flask of tea and his binoculars, walking one of his favourite local trails.

“I don’t necessarily have to see anything special,” he said. “I write down everything I see, and maybe if I’m lucky I get a snap of a good bird on my camera.”

Smith, 23, is one of almost 750,000 Gen Z Brits who regularly enjoy birdwatching, according to research by Fifty5Blue and published by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB),