Background

Suzy has loved birds ever since she was a small child, growing up in Essex, UK. Her father, Stan, taught her the names of commonly found birds, and she would spend hours watching the House Sparrows, Starlings and Blackbirds in her garden. 

Given her lifelong love of books, it was surprising that it wasn’t until a family holiday to Scotland when she was 15 that Suzy bought her first bird identification book. On that vacation Suzy saw her first Chaffinch, and possibly a Golden Eagle (or more likely, a Buzzard). Reading through the bird book taught Suzy about the wonderful variety of bird species we have in the UK, and what she might find in different habitats.

Travel

Over the years, Suzy has been lucky enough to travel both nationally and internationally for vacations and, since having the show, has recorded many hours of bird songs and calls. Spending time in nature on coastlines or taking woodland walks to hear birds is one of her most favourite ways to relax. Listening back to these recordings evokes wonderful memories of those moments.

While she does keep a life list and vacation lists of the birds she has seen, listing isn’t her priority. Suzy loves seeing new birds, but is equally enthralled by her regular garden visitors. Her best birding moments are when she can watch the behaviour of birds, whether they are foraging, displaying or interacting with their own or other species.

The Casual Birder Podcast

Suzy is a self-described casual birder - she enjoys bird watching opportunities as part of her everyday activities: getting ready in the morning, making the short walk to the office, watching garden birds while doing chores. 

Suzy wanted to encourage people to take more notice of birds and nature, and show them that bird watching does not require expensive equipment, just an interest in the nature around us. 

Combining her two loves of bird watching and podcast listening, the show was born. Suzy says it has been one of the most fulfilling things she has ever done, and receiving such positive feedback from listeners around the world has been humbling. 

Podcasts

When Suzy isn’t watching birds or making the show, she listens to podcasts. Her favourite shows are ones that make her laugh!

The podcasting community is very important to Suzy and she is always happy to share knowledge and learn from other podcast producers.

As a podcast fan, she has very fond memories of the two podcast ‘summer camp’ weekends she attended in Lake Arrowhead, California organised by her favourite podcast network, Maximum Fun.

Suzy lives in Hampshire with her husband and biggest supporter, John. A talented landscape photographer, and also a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, John has branched out into bird photography to illustrate the birds featured in the show. Examples of his work can be found in the Gallery and on his website Image Simple.

Credits

Thank you to Randy Braun for designing the artwork for the show.

The theme music is Short Sleeved Shirt by The Drones. Thanks to them for letting me use it. Check out their website: Drones Music.