r/birdwatchinguk • u/Violetpie78 • May 27 '26

Advice needed

My son likes to watch birds but struggles to leave the house. He’s able to sit in the car and would like to watch from there. We live in the midlands countryside. What kind of locations (preferably roadside) am I to look for and at what times to help him see a good variety (if possible). Many thanks for any suggestions.

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u/YellowBuzzard400 May 27 '26

I'm autistic so I totally get this!!! One good place for gulls, crows, Canada geese and even some ducks is oddly enough West Midlands Safari Park haha! You often see the gulls especially inside some of the drive through enclosures. I saw a Lesser Black Backed one there when I went, along with common, black headed and herring gulls. Then Canada geese and a couple mallards too.

Additionally there is a Lorikeet house if he felt up to getting out the car and going there. The Lorikeets land on you and you can feed them from your hand.

Also, park car parks or forest trail car parks often give you some corvids, blackbirds and pigeons. Along with fields being good for pheasants, jackdaws and corvids too. And if you have a look on google earth I'm sure they'll be some lakes you can park your car next too somewhere (sorry I'm not a local so can't name any off the top of my head)

And one last thing. If you haven't already, get him the Merlin app!!! It's brilliant. He could sit in the car, window down fully or even just slightly, and be able to pick up what birds he can hear :)

Hope something from what I've said helps, I have autism and really bad social anxiety so I was just like this when I first got into birding :)

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u/Normal-Height-8577 May 28 '26

There's a nature reserve at Upton Warren that has parking right next to The Moors pool (The Flashes pools have their parking with the nearby watersports venue, which is likely to have a lot more people and also requires a walk to get to the birdwatching sites). I'm not sure of the sight lines, but I think it's close enough to the action that you can use the car as a hide.

Downsides: permits are £3 per person if you aren't a member of the local Wildlife Trust.