We’ve been around for a while

The 2026 edition of The Birdwatcher’s Yearbook will be the 46th but the first to be edited by me, Neil Stratton, following on from Neil Gartshore’s decade at the helm.

As chance would have it, the baton is being passed from one Neil to another; and I trust that this is an omen for a smooth transition from one editor and edition to the next.

But we’ve evolved over time

Whilst, in many respects, the coming edition will be more of the same—all the regular elements will remain—there will be some changes.

The Yearbook will be printed in full colour throughout.

There will be reproductions of a specially commissioned series of paintings of the Bird of the Year. In 2026: The Redpoll.

As always, the checklist will be updated to reflect the latest British List; but will now also include population estimates and trends.

The Diary will be given twice as much space and combined with the sunrise/sunset and tide tables.

The County Directory and reserves will be combined, so that everything relating to a county will be in one place.

The counties will no longer be arranged semi-alphabetically, as previously, but by geographical location, so that counties that are neighbours geographically are, as far as it is possible, also neighbours in The Yearbook.

The number of reserves featured will be substantially increased. The new reserves will be largely, but not exclusively, drawn from areas that were under-represented in the past, such as Scotland and Wales, or not covered at all, such as Northern Ireland, The Channel Islands, The Isle of Man and, for some inexplicable reason lost in the mists of time, Herefordshire.

Once the 2026 edition is published, in October 2025, this website too will evolve.