Why Cley Spy?

The Glandford Shop with the newly finished viewing shelter

Eleven years ago Cley Spy opened in the front of an old carrot washing barn in Glandford near the North Norfolk coast, stocked with a handful of binoculars and telescopes. Since then we have expanded to become the biggest independent specialist optics shop in the country, with over 180 different models of binocular, over 40 telescopes and our second hand stock all on shelf to be tried and tested. Over the years Cley Spy has become the place to visit for specialist nature watching equipment. We regularly get visitors from all over the country because the range of stock, viewing facilities and expertise we can offer are the best around.

The pond and wildflower meadow behind the Glandford shop

Testing Scopes 'in the field'

House Sparrows on the feeder

The team here are all birdwatchers and optics users and so have been through the process of choosing binoculars and scopes from the initially bewildering array of models. Knowing what it's like to be on the other side of the transaction, we give customers the time and space to try and test all the equipment they want. If you are spending tens of pounds or thousands of pounds on optical equipment you want to know you are investing in the right product. You can only make a valid comparison between two or more binoculars or telescopes if you have them side by side and can repeatedly switch between them. Testing one model in one place and another somewhere else, even if only an hour apart, will not give you an accurate impression of their relative merits. Here at Cley Spy we have the most diverse stock of binoculars and telescopes anywhere in the country so you can test a range of equipment within any budget at your leisure. We will always give advice if needed and discuss the options and your requirements, but ultimately it is what your eyes see that matters. Whilst any group of binoculars or scopes of the same specification and around the same price may be very similar in terms of optical quality, subtleties of design, ergonomics, size and weight can make or brake the suitability of a model.



Just a few of the binoculars in stock

The imprsive view over one of Britain's
best bird reserves from our shop at
Cley Marshes

We have two shops, our HQ at Glandford and a small shop in the old Visitors Centre at Cley Marshes nature reserve. At Glandford in addition to the optics and tripods we also have a range of Paramo and Jack Pyke outdoor clothing, Tilley hats, bird food and feeders, books and toys. In January 2012 we moved to a newly converted barn in the same yard at Glandford that gave us much better viewing for testing optics and the half-acre field which we are turning into a wildlife haven.

Come and visit us to get the best optics experience available!

Cley Spy

Wildlife update

After the very wet bank holiday Sunday the pond has been topped up to the brim and the sun has come out. Three smooth newts a selection of diving beetles and pond skaters have found the pond and are enjoying the weed and lilly pads.

Corn Chamomile and Poppies

The field has come into bloom now and is sporting an impressive diversity of species, from meadow grasses and delicate perennials, to dry waste ground species and the rather unkindly termed “weeds of cultivation”. The main attraction is the spectacle of the deep red poppies growing through the sea of white corn chamomile between the shop and the pond. At the top of the field a much more heath-like environment has developed, with shorter, tougher grasses and flower species associated with dry sandy places like, barren strawberry and fiddleneck.

Common Vetch

Wild Strawberry

Poppy

Field Pansy

Cornflower

Flax sp.