[Closed] Ornithology advice

They may not open for a while, but the RSPB shops on some of their reserves have a range of binoculars, not many, but chosen at relevant price steps.

Do you get a freebie book if you join? I fail to remember.

Clifton Cameras are doing Nikon Prostaff 3S for £129.95. Buy them. Great glass and 8x42 is perfect for birding.

The RSPB pocket guide to British birds is about a fiver and very good.

Enjoy your new hobby. I've been at it for 40 years. I started at 8!

Thanks folks, keep it coming

OP

Rspb are pretty good for binoculars and you know that the profits are going to a good cause. £50 will get you a starter set but if you plan to use them a lot, or in low light it might be worth spending a bit more. If you get down to your nearest reserve you will find them pretty helpful for both a book and optics

I've got a pair of 8x32 Avian Trekkers, from Avon Cameras in Bath, which cost me £89 about seven or eight years ago, but they sadly no longer do that range, but their current cheap range start at £159, and are very good, rubber coated, nitrogen filled so waterproof and non-misting.
http://www.avianoptics.co.uk/products/avian-lite-open-bridge.php
The biggest I'd go for would be 8x42, 10x50 gives the best low-light performance, but if you're going to be carrying them all day, then as light as possible meaning magnification and object lens size dictate a compromise on light gathering performance.

I bought a pair of RSPB binos a few years ago at about £200 and the optical quality is poor compared to a compact set I bought elsewhere for about a third of the cost. Happily work subsequently gave me a pair of Swarovski binos and if they take them back I'll be buying a similar set to replace.

8x42 is ideal for binos. I can recommend the Minox brand- German engineering at reasonable prices.

If you are going to be watching wildfowl or waders from a hide then a good scope will make a big difference. Opticron or Nikon make good scopes.

Learn what they sound like as well as what they look like - far easier to spot something when you know what you're looking for.

Rspb has calls on their website or the aptly named Geoff sample has a field guide with 2 cds of calls in various habitats

Hawke binoculars have been getting good reviews recently and are available at a range of prices, although the Nature trek and Endurance ED look the best for birdwatching at a starter price range.

I think the Collins bird guide (2nd edition) is one of the best recent field guides.

Leica, Swarovski and Zeiss are some of the top of the range optics, but you might be able to pick up a decent pair second hand.

There's a smartphone app called BirdGuide which is very handy, because it has calls and warning cry recordings for each species, which makes it far easier to identify, if you've got a rough idea what the bird is. Corvidae in particular, 'cos from a distance they're all just large black birds; well, except for jays and magpies, and hooded crows oop north.

I joined the RSPB a few years ago, having acquired a mild interest in Bird watching.
I ended up at Canvey Island site and was amazed to see all sorts of Bird life in the marshes there, it was an eye opener I have to say. So, I took a few hours with a guide (£20) who took me and two other newbies out in late afternoon and our quest began.
The guide was freelance, his knowledge impeccable and a true gent. He pointed out the probable locations and conditions, the landscape for Birds you wish to see, and feeding and roosting times. All invaluable information in such a short space of time. It's cut down those times where I'd just scoot off on a whim to knowing where and when now.
I've been to many RSPB sites, some manned, some not, some have cafes, most don't. All of them however have been based in ideal locations and supported by volunteers, who are really nice folks.
I bought a pair of RSPB binoculars on spec and cost, they've been excellent and I've used them for many many purposes other thanBird watching. IIRC they cost about £250 and I'd say they were among some of the lower priced bins there. Some of the single focus tripod variants cost upwards of £1200, I wasn't keen on spending that amount on some bins that will be well used and for the uses I need. The RSPB obviously make a few quid on own branded stuff, that's absolutely fine with me if it helps in a small way keep the organisation running.

Cheese@4p, may be early days but I've got a decent scope for sale if your'e interested.
I've just upgraded is the only reason for selling.

It's an Opticron GS 80 EA ED.
Email in profile.

I've got some Opticron Oasis 10x28's for carrying on the bike. Very compact & excellent VFM at £200 ish.

thanks for all the helpful advice. STW is brilliant for this kind of newbie stuff.
I look forward to making a start soon. There is a nature reserve near to where I live (Brighouse)which has hides etc. and lots of keen birders around so I will be up and running soon and I will keep you posted on what I see. Cheers.

RSPB website shop is the most expensive place to buy stuff eg Bird food is about 3-5x the going rate.

The best advice is the simple stuff. Wear clothes that you can be still in for long periods with as much comfort as possible. Waterproofs that rustle are not good, either.

If you are peering out from behind cover (hedge / fence / sand dune / whatever), don't silhouette yourself by peering over the top, try to look out from the side.

Being quiet and still will make a massive difference to what you see.

Welcome to the fold.
Hubby any I have been wayching birds for many years.
The one tip I would give for successful spotting is to learn habitats.
If you know which birds tend to be in which kind of area, you're halfway there. Also people in the hides usually help out with pointing out species and answering any questions.

Buy a copy of the Simon Barnes book, "How to be a bad birdwatcher"

My dad is very keen. I'll sau a few obvious things. Spotting a bird and then getting a good identification is really hatd. I sort of failed t spot that this was the challange.

Well worth getiing help from the RSPB or others out in the field. People love to help

My dads tip is when looking at a bird try and look or key features. For example size (relative to common birds), leg colour, beak colour, features on head, then wing back and breast colour. tail shape. It so easy to just look and think you are noticing things

Nature reserves are always a good place for spotting the unusual, although you'll almost certainly see lots and lots of ducks, many of which will look very much alike, the same goes for warblers and the like, which are basically BBB's; boring brown birds!
I'll be honest, I really don't get excited by ducks or BBB's, but plenty of people can happily sit studying them for hours.
I was down at Shapwick Heath and Ham Wall, the two main sites on the Avalon Marshes near Glastonbury, where it was a bit quiet, but I saw a Marsh Harrier, six Great White Egrets, sadly no Bustards or Lesser Bustards, although I've seen them down there before, and there's a Purple Heron turns up sometimes where it can be seen, and I was rather excited to spend the best part of an hour watching this fella poking around in the reeds about ten-fifteen feet from a hide near one of the observation points:

[IMG] [/IMG]

Glossy Ibis, not many in the UK, this is one of a pair down there, but I don't know if they're a mated pair or not.

try bird forum lots of info on there

A membership to the RSPB is well worth it. I pay £6p/m for a family job and we have a couple of excellent reserves near by.

You get a free bird id book as well.

I use a pair of Visionary Freebirds. Really rather good. I've tested them side by side side against the very best Leica, Zeiss, Swarovski etc and yes those are better but the Freebirds stand their ground.

http://clearviewbinoculars.co.uk/acatalog/Visionary_Freebird_8x42.html

If you want to spend a bit more these Nikon stew legendary and one of the very best small binoculars you can buy for any money.

https://www.cliftoncameras.co.uk/nikon-nature-8x30-e-ii-binoculars

It's out of print I think, but [url= https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Birds-Character-Britain-Europe-Field-Guide-Identification/0333490533 ]Birds by Character - Britain and Europe: Field Guide to Jizz Identification[/url] is [i]really[/i] good, as well as being amusingly named.

🙂

Helm guide to bird identification 'An in-depth look at confusion species' is also well worth a look and as the title suggests it has a lot of useful comparisons between confusion species.
Collins bird guide 2nd edition is excellent.

For binoculars I'd recommend looking 2nd hand for a pair of old Leica's or similar

Where is your patch ?

Mine...

http://www.severnsidebirds.co.uk

Here's mine, I've volunteered twice his year helping clear the paths and fix up the wheelchair access routes.

Fabulous place, not massive, large cafe', right next to the seafront too..

[url= http://www3.hants.gov.uk/countryside/titchfield.htm ]Titchfield Bird Sanctuary [/url]

I like Opticron,8X42 is ideal, if a little big, this is no problem if you're carrying a bag of some type.
I'd say spend as much as you can afford. I had a £160 pair which I replaced with a £400pair and the difference is very noticeable 🙂
Collins Bird Guide is ideal to keep at home to reference, It's too heavy to take out on the bike IMO.