The idea for BTO to produce a Christmas card seems to have first been proposed to the Trust’s Council (now the BTO Board) in April 1939 by the Treasurer, Mrs Jane Priestley, and the Junior Vice-Chairman, Harry Witherby (1873–1943). A subcommittee was swiftly set in place to explore the practicalities for BTO to adopt a similar Christmas card scheme as was already underway at other wildlife organisations like RSPB, and the ‘Christmas Card Committee’ met for the first time at Witherby’s Surrey home on Sunday 7 May 1939. The meeting ended with both a recommendation to proceed and a stipulation that the subject of the first card should be a Woodcock with young. This was presumably to coincide with the imminent publication of the findings of BTO’s 1934–1935 Woodcock Inquiry. However, due to the Second World War, publication of this report was subsequently delayed until 1945.

The committee recommended that 1,000 cards be produced, but in recognition of the risks involved if the scheme did not end up being a success, personal financial guarantees were made by its members – Harry Witherby pledged £15 (approximately £850 in today’s money) and Jane Priestley £5 (£285 today). The celebrated wildlife artist and ornithologist Peter Scott (1909–1989) had already offered to produce a painting, and the meeting minutes report that he had already begun searching for a suitable Woodcock nest. A few months later brought the outbreak of the Second World War, but regardless BTO’s Council unanimously decided to continue with the Christmas card scheme. The Woodcock card went on sale in October 1939 for the price of 9d each (or 4s 6d a dozen) and the response was positive, with the Dumfries and Galloway Standard declaring that “The British Trust for Ornithology offers for sale a card showing a Woodcock and young, and the name, Mr Scott, is sufficient guarantee that the painting will be of great beauty and executed with careful regard for accuracy and great detail” on 18 November 1939.

With eventual sales of over £80 (approximately £4,500 today) recorded in November 1939, the Christmas card scheme was pronounced a resounding success. Peter Scott was subsequently asked to produce a second image to be sold the following year, but as a member of the Royal Navy Volunteer Supplementary Reserve (RNVSR) he was otherwise engaged at the time and BTO’s request went unanswered. The Woodcock and young card was put on sale again in 1940, after which point the War put the scheme on hold for several years before it resumed in 1950 with a card featuring Ringed Plovers by the writer and artist Eric Ennion (1900–1981).

At BTO, we have continued to produce Christmas cards without pause ever since, with at least one new design produced every year. Peter Scott was finally able to produce his second card, a Fulmar, in 1952, and his name is just one of many other well-known artists over the years. Our back catalogue includes paintings from the naturalistic painter Charles Tunnicliffe (1901–1979); the Scottish ornithologist and wildlife artist Donald Watson (1918–2005); the American ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson (1908–1996); and photographs by Eric Hosking (1909–1991); but the creator of the greatest number of BTO Christmas cards by some significant margin is the artist Robert Gillmor (1936–2022), well-known for his distinctive line drawings and linocuts. From his first image, a Redstart, in 1959, he produced the artwork for well over 100 cards over the next almost half a century. 

Over almost 80 years of production, our expansive back catalogue of Christmas cards has showcased almost every species of bird found in the UK. Although the images themselves have generally been well received, on 26 September 1968 a writer to the Leicester Daily Mercury complained that “Ninety-two days to Christmas and I have already received a pamphlet advertising Christmas cards from the British Trust for Ornithology. I know we are exhorted to “Post Early for Christmas,” but this is taking things a little far”.

A wide variety of illustrations, photographs, and humorous sketches have depicted traditional winter scenes showing Robins and Barn Owls, but some less-typically-Christmassy images have included summer visitors such as Swallow and Red-necked Phalarope, and seabirds including Razorbills and Gannets. 1957’s Kentish Plover, 1962’s Great Grey Shrike and 1997’s Little Auks certainly rank among the more unusual subjects, and perhaps not surprisingly given the broad range of birds to choose from there are far fewer Christmas Robins than you might expect!