Birthday Birding Equipment

It's my birthday... and being quite "birdy" I wanted "birdy" things which brought forth a rather excellent mixture of books.

But I also got some very nice equipment. Firstly, a monopod. I did a lot of research into whether to try a monopod for my scope (and indeed which one to get) and came to the conclusion it was just what I needed. I love using my scope but always end up trying to balance it on walls etc as I cannot be bothered with a big cumbersome tripod everytime I nip out for an hours birding. And so I got a Manfrotto monopod and it is fantastic! It's light, strudy and extremely quick to set up. I couldn't be more happy with it. Now when I wander around Blackmoorfoot and see a spec on the other side I can ID it in seconds... and then carry on my way. I've also got a small ball-head with it. Now most of the time I have it locked anyway (i.e. I may as well not have a head!) but it is very useful in 2 important ways...
1. I can pan upwards into the sky if a bird flys over (and no matter how hard you lean a monopod over you can't see THAT high up
2. It allows me to fold the scope flat against the monopod (and lock it) for carrying making it extremely small and easy to carry.

The only thing I can't do with it is take photos... it's steady but not THAT steady with a camera and scope hanging off it... which was never my intention but it does bring me to my other new piece of kit...

I've wanted to try digiscoping for a while. In fact when I first rediscovered birding I thought I would be an avid digiscoper in no-time. The principle was inspiring... you have a scope, you have a digital camera... put the two together and you're taking shots like the pros! Professional results on a budget! Yes?! No. You see the more I looked into it I began to realise most of my equipment wasn't good enough, I need a camera with threads, a better tripod (mind is very very cheap), expensive attachments... in the end it seemed as cheap to me to buy a digital SLR or at least a compact with a big zoom. But then I finally found the answer and bought myself a birthday prezzie. This amazing adaptor does everything I thought digiscoping represented... it will fit any camera, clamp to your scope and after twisting a few knobs, you're away! £30. I haven't had much of a play with it yet other than making sure it worked... and it does... but I can't wait to start playing. .. I don't expect to be on the inside cover of Birdwatching Magazine next month but I do expect to have a great deal of fun... and will no doubt be posting a few of my efforts right here.