Gen Z Embraces BirdTok as Birding Becomes a Social Media Trend

Published: 15 August 2026 .The English Chronicle Des. The English Chronicle Online.
A growing number of young people across Britain are turning to birding, with social media platforms and birdsong-recognition apps helping transform a hobby once associated mainly with older generations into an increasingly popular pastime among Gen Z and younger audiences.

The trend, widely described online as “BirdTok”, has emerged as many users look for a quieter and more authentic alternative to the increasingly intense nature of digital life. As social media becomes crowded with political arguments, polarising content, artificial intelligence-generated material and constant streams of entertainment, birding is offering young users a way to reconnect with something tangible beyond their screens.

TikTok data indicates that British posts featuring birdwatching and BirdTok content have increased significantly in recent months. Posts using the hashtags #birdwatching and #birdtok have risen by around a third over the past three months, while the number of UK posts tagged #birding has increased by about 40%. Across the world, the three hashtags have accumulated roughly one million posts.

The popularity of individual bird-related videos illustrates the scale of the phenomenon. A video featuring Steven, a relatively tame seagull being fed raw salmon from Tesco, has attracted more than 52 million views, demonstrating that audiences are increasingly willing to engage with wildlife content that would once have been considered niche.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has also benefited from the growing interest. Its social media posts have received almost nine million views over the past year, with approximately one-third of those views coming from people aged under 24.

Birding enthusiasts and conservation organisations believe several factors are driving the trend. Social media has made it easier for young people to discover the hobby, while smartphone technology has removed some of the barriers that previously made identifying birds difficult for beginners.

One of the most popular tools is Merlin, a birdsong-identification application that works in a similar way to music-recognition services. Users can record a bird singing and receive assistance identifying the species, allowing beginners to participate without already possessing extensive knowledge of birds.

For many young people, this combination of technology and nature appears to be particularly attractive. Rather than abandoning digital devices altogether, they are using them as tools to encourage outdoor activity and curiosity about the natural environment.

Jack Baddams, a 33-year-old bird enthusiast from Derbyshire, has become one of the prominent figures in the online birding community. His videos about bird ringing have attracted millions of views, while his TikTok account has around 300,000 followers.

Baddams is also a television researcher and one of thousands of bird ringers working with the British Trust for Ornithology. Bird ringing involves placing identification rings on birds so researchers can monitor movements, migration, population changes and other aspects of bird behaviour.

The scale of the online response has surprised Baddams. He has found that videos featuring familiar species can be particularly successful because viewers already recognise the birds and have developed an everyday relationship with them.

Among the birds he has tagged are blackbirds, blue tits and meadow pipits. The latter belongs to a group sometimes described by birders as “little brown jobs”, a light-hearted term for small brown birds that can initially be difficult for inexperienced observers to distinguish.

Baddams believes the attraction of birding goes beyond simply identifying species. The hobby gives people a reason to leave their homes, pay attention to their surroundings and develop an interest in something that exists independently of social media.

“It’s a craving for something real,” he has said, describing birding as an accessible gateway to the natural world. Almost anyone can step outside, look through a window or visit a local park and encounter a bird.

That accessibility is one of the most important reasons the hobby is reaching a younger audience. Birding does not necessarily require expensive equipment or extensive travel. Beginners can start with the birds they see in gardens, streets and neighbourhood parks before gradually developing their knowledge.

Tim Jones, a 35-year-old professional ornithologist from York, has also played a significant role in introducing younger audiences to the hobby through social media. His Begin Birding accounts have attracted tens of thousands of followers on TikTok and hundreds of thousands on Instagram.

His online content includes simple challenges designed to make birding approachable, such as encouraging followers to learn one birdsong each week. Other social media personalities have also helped broaden the appeal, including photographers and bird enthusiasts attempting ambitious challenges involving species from around the world.

Jones says the age profile of birders is changing noticeably. While seeing a birder under the age of 40 would once have been relatively unusual, teenagers and people in their twenties are now becoming a familiar presence at birding locations and events.

The language surrounding the hobby is changing as well. Younger enthusiasts increasingly prefer the term “birding” rather than “birdwatching”. The word “twitcher”, traditionally used for highly dedicated birders who travel at short notice to see rare species, is also seen as too narrow to describe the broader community now becoming interested in birds.

Social media has helped make birding appear more accessible and fashionable. Instead of presenting the hobby as an activity requiring years of specialist knowledge, online creators show young people that they can begin with a phone, a pair of binoculars or simply their own eyes and ears.

The British Trust for Ornithology has noticed the change through its youth programmes. Events designed for people aged between 11 and 25, including bird camps, walks and talks, have reportedly experienced a sharp increase in demand.

Samuel Levy, a member of the organisation’s youth engagement team, said there had previously been difficulties attracting young people to events. That situation has now changed, with organisers experiencing much stronger interest.

The growth of BirdTok also coincides with a broader revival of analogue and outdoor hobbies among younger generations. Activities that provide a break from constant digital stimulation, including walking, photography, gardening and nature observation, have gained greater visibility online.

Birding has an unusual advantage because it can combine the digital and physical worlds. A young person may discover a bird through TikTok, identify it using a smartphone application and then go outside to search for it. The technology becomes a bridge to the natural environment rather than simply another source of screen time.

However, the trend could face challenges if planned restrictions on social media use by under-16s come into effect next year. Jones has suggested that the age between 10 and 13 is often when people first develop an interest in birds, making social media an important discovery tool for the next generation of enthusiasts.

Despite that uncertainty, conservation organisations have welcomed the change. The RSPB has described the increasing interest among younger people as encouraging, arguing that curiosity about birds can become the first step towards a deeper and lasting relationship with nature.

The significance of the BirdTok phenomenon therefore extends beyond social media trends. As young people increasingly encounter digital content that can be aggressive, overwhelming or artificially generated, the simple sight and sound of a bird can provide an alternative kind of online experience.

Birding offers something that algorithms cannot completely manufacture: the unpredictability of the real world. A bird may appear unexpectedly, sing from an unseen tree or disappear before someone can take a photograph. That uncertainty can make the experience more engaging precisely because it cannot be controlled.

For a generation growing up surrounded by smartphones and social platforms, the renewed fascination with birds may represent a search for balance rather than a rejection of technology. Young users are not necessarily turning away from their screens; instead, they are using them to rediscover what exists beyond them.

From millions of views for seagull videos to packed youth birding events and growing communities of young wildlife photographers, the rise of BirdTok suggests that nature has found a new route into the attention of a generation often portrayed as permanently connected to the digital world.

The appeal may ultimately be simple. Birds are everywhere, they remain largely indifferent to online trends and they offer an opportunity to pause, observe and listen. In an increasingly noisy digital environment, that quiet connection with the natural world may be exactly what many young people are looking for.