The right tool for the job. Part 1: Garden wildlife.

Always to hand, ready for
those unexpected visitors.

Gardens, big or small, can turn up some surprising wildlife be it birds, mammals or insects. From the point of view of watching the wildlife in your garden, it is a quite controlled environment. You can arrange things like the position of feeders and views to ponds so that they can be observed from the kitchen window for example. In this kind of situation factors such as the size, weight and field of view of binoculars are less important.  A larger, higher magnification binocular like a 10x50 Porro prism could be ideal, especially with large range available second hand. These are often a little bulky and heavy to take on a long walk but offer good image quality at a low price for viewing from the house or doorstep.  See our website for our current range of used optics.
For a guide to the basics of binoculars have a look at our video "What the numbers mean"

 

 

 

 

 



Feeding your garden birds brings them
into easy view in a predictable location.

A telescope can be useful in a larger garden or to get a really detailed view of birds on the feeders. In terms of magnification less is more given the relatively short distances involved. The best option would be a fixed 20x or 30x wide angle eyepiece because these will be powerful enough without having too narrow a field of view for a confined space.

Next time: Countryside, wetlands and woods.