Sean Bean brings ‘charisma’ and warmth to Get Birding

Sean Bean: a ‘genial host’

(Image credit: James Turner)

The decision to choose Sean Bean as the new host for the latest series of “Get Birding” was met with “a raised eyebrow or two”, said Gerard O’Donovan in The Telegraph. But the “Game of Thrones” star has been a “keen birder” since he was a teenager, and “he’s a natural”, bringing “pulling power” and passion to a hobby that’s “not normally associated with charisma”.

“Get Birding” began in 2021 during lockdown as twitching exploded in popularity. Now, the podcast is back for its fourth series, and, as always, its aim is to demystify birdwatching and nature, making it more accessible for everyone to enjoy.

“It’s a hugely listenable RSPB podcast”, said Alexi Duggins in The Guardian. Bean is “warm and honest”, sharing his “lifelong love of birding” with listeners, and revealing how he has squeezed in birdwatching between his acting jobs. In the first episode, he chats with musician (and “fellow ornithology lover”) Guy Garvey about “spotting different species while working abroad, recognising birdsong and the meditative joy of watching the feathered creatures”.

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The new series “sprinkles celebrity birdwatchers among ornithological experts” including RSPB president Dr Amir Khan and 23-year-old environmental activist Mya-Rose Craig (also known as Birdgirl), who previously hosted the show, said Lucy White in the Irish Independent. Guests share how they fell in love with birdwatching; Craig, for example, came from a “twitching family”, and recalls getting up at the crack of dawn for excursions around the country from Somerset to Scotland.

Bean makes for a “genial host”. The “rugged actor” is “so Yorkshire he’s wearing a flat cap in the video version”. When he’s not pottering around his “three acres of rewilded land”, he chats with his “fellow bird-fanciers” about the joys of connecting with nature. “Birdwatching really settles your mind,” he says. “I guess it’s like playing a musical instrument, you can’t be thinking of anything else when you’re in the garden, everything else floats away, all your troubles. It keeps you sane.”

Irenie Forshaw is the features editor at The Week, covering arts, culture and travel. She began her career in journalism at Leeds University, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Gryphon, before working at The Guardian and The New Statesman Group. Irenie then became a senior writer at Elite Traveler, where she oversaw The Experts column.