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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

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  1. Troubador

    My First Zeiss Binoculars

    Many, many years ago we stayed in a hotel in a small village in Strath Spey (‘Strath’ being the local name for a valley with a meandering river) for our first visit to Scotland. This was years before we discovered the islands off the west coast and we were just excited to be in Scotland with the...
  2. Troubador

    The Best Binoculars in the World

    They are the ones you have in your hands: use them and enjoy what they do.
  3. Troubador

    Troubador's life with Binoculars

    The first binos I can well remember as a young lad (with acknowledgement to ‘Black Beauty’ by Anna Sewell) are the 8x30 ex-army Kershaws my father inherited from my grandfather. I didn’t know what they were at the time and when they came to me following my father’s passing I found their...
  4. Troubador

    Troubador

    Just returned home from 3 weeks in hospital and am in recovery. Best wishes to all. Lee
  5. Troubador

    West Scotland Otters

    Whiskers twitch and and nostrils flare, The scent of the tide drifts in on the open air, Otter chases Herring into the seaweed and gets his dinner in one swift deed
  6. Troubador

    Surprises Through my Zeisses: a Postscript

    I thought I had finished my series of 'Surprises' with number 18 but the recent weather led to the surprises recorded below. The heavy snowfall in my home town in early March was easily the heaviest snow since 2013 and probably surpassed that of 2013 by a good margin (see photo) and it caused...
  7. Troubador

    SFL50?

    We have had SFL40 and SFL30 is arriving soon. Will these be followed by SFL50? Can't imagine this lightweight family will be stretched to include a 54/56mm but 50mm seems like a possible candidate. Lee
  8. Troubador

    Recent Weather

    Yesterday (Sat 21st Jan) with a blue sky and bright sunshine over our SW Sheffield home we were tempted to go for a drive into Derbyshire to watch out for winter bird flocks of maybe Lapwings, Crows, Redwings, and Fieldfares and while we saw none of these it was the most fascinating drive. Where...
  9. Troubador

    My Most Important Binoculars?

    On 16th June 2012 something totally unexpected happened when Troubadoris and I were in Focus Optics with a view to buying her a Leica Ultravid HD 8x32. Personally I had always thought that only 40/42mm binoculars were for serious nature observers and regarded 32mm binoculars more or less as...
  10. Troubador

    Inter-tidal Marine Life in West Scotland

    As well as impressive cetaceans, seals and otters, there is much to fascinate in the inter-tidal zone. Dragonet, Sea Slug Limacia clavigera, Snakelocks Sea Anemone, Sunstar Starfish, Paracentrotus lividus Sea Urchin Lee
  11. Troubador

    How to estimate the age of Otter spraint in West Scotland

    Fresh spraint has a noticeable acidic flavour when placed on the tip of one's tongue, but the aroma of fish is at least 'fresh-smelling'. Spraint that is over one day old is far less acidic, but has a musty hint, and the 'fishiness' definitely tastes rotten. Lee Of course this is all load of...
  12. Troubador

    European Otters in West Scotland

    In west Scotland these Otters forage in the sea, but since they don't have blubber to keep them warm like seals, they have to keep their fur free of salt so that it retains its insulating properties and doesn't stick together. To do this the Otters climb out of the sea regularly to warm up and...
  13. Troubador

    Troubador's Favourite Birds: 11 Snow Bunting Plectrophenax nivalis

    Each year in which we have visited the island of Islay in October/November, in the final week of our visit in early to mid-November, we keep an eye open for these beautiful little winter visitors, and rarely are we disappointed. Largely white and black, but with some brown on the mantle, that...
  14. Troubador

    Birders' Choice Awards 2022

    I was Googling bird guides recently but ended up on the Bird Guides website where I found that their annual Birders’ Choice Awards is offering the opportunity to vote in 10 different categories including nature reserves, conservation heroes and even rarity of the year. Category 8 is for Product...
  15. Troubador

    Birders' Choice Awards 2022

    I was Googling bird guides recently but ended up on the Bird Guides website where I found that their annual Birders’ Choice Awards is offering the opportunity to vote in 10 different categories including nature reserves, conservation heroes and even rarity of the year. Category 8 is for Product...
  16. Troubador

    Troubador's Favourite Birds: 10 Bearded Reedling Panurus biarmicus

    Our first exposure to the Suffolk coast marshes was the RSPB Minsmere Reserve which we visited to see Avocets and Marsh Harriers but where we were lucky enough to also see other wonderful species such as Rough-legged Buzzard and Barn Owl too, but our hearts and imaginations were really captured...
  17. Troubador

    Troubador's Favourite Birds: 9 Twite Linaria flavirostris

    These tiny finches often take us by surprise, rising with twittering voices from among leggy heather on moors, or from behind jumbles of boulders on rocky shores. Their calls always seem to be conversational, rather than exclamations of alarm, so they are delight to see and hear as we scramble...
  18. Troubador

    Troubador's Favourite Birds: 8 Merlin Falco columbarius

    We have had so many encounters with this ‘pocket rocket’, that it is hard to choose, but here goes. On the summit of Carn Ban Mor, in the Cairngorms many years ago, we saw at close range a Merlin repeatedly stooping at a Meadow Pipit. Each time the Merlin did this the Pipit would climb swiftly...
  19. Troubador

    Troubador's Favourite Birds: 7 Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus

    When considering birds with power and agility, it is all too easy to immediately think of birds of prey, such as Merlin, Peregrine and Goshawk. All terrific athletes in their own way and glorious to see in action. But every time I see an Arctic Skua twisting and turning as it pursues other...
  20. Troubador

    Troubador's Favourite Birds: 6 Sanderling Calidris alba

    We see this species in the west of Scotland during autumn migration, but whilst other waders such as Dunlin, Curlew and Redshank visit all kinds of shores, Sanderlings are very selective and restrict themselves to sandy ones. Whereas Dunlins busy themselves ‘stitching’ the sand or mud with their...
  21. Troubador

    Troubador's Favourite Birds: 5 Purple Sandpiper Calidris maritima

    Our first encounter with this species was on the north Norfolk coast and this individual was standing on top of the shingle bank overlooking the sea. It didn’t move as we approached so we were at first concerned about its condition, but as we backed away, it lifted its head, called, then flew a...
  22. Troubador

    Troubador's Favourite Birds: 4 Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus

    These little beauties are regular visitors to our back garden bird feeder, often arriving in groups of 4-6, resulting in a flurry of long tails pointing in all directions, and several totally charming faces keeping watch-out. They are impossibly cute, and also the source of an ornithological...
  23. Troubador

    Troubador's Favourite Birds: 3 Greenshank Tringa nebularia

    Greenshanks have a confident poise combined with a certain grace that we find utterly captivating, and although described below as ‘elusive’ they are not always so. During one of our visits to the tip of the Ardnamurchan peninsula, during which we had a couple of inches of snow (!), a Greenshank...
  24. Troubador

    Troubador's Favourite Birds: 2 Great Northern Diver (Common Loon) Gavia immer

    Ever since our first sighting of a Great Northern Diver at Claggain Bay on Islay, in October 1981, we have been in awe of this magnificent species. Whether in breeding or winter plumage, for us it is an icon of the seas off the western coast of Scotland. It is a substantial bird but is...
  25. Troubador

    Troubador's Favourite Birds: 1 Mistle Thrush, Turdus viscivorus

    There have always been several Song Thrushes nesting in our local neighbourhood. They are attractive birds with a kind of elegance that separates them from the more boisterous Blackbirds and the occasional Mistle Thrush. These latter always perch on the tips of the highest local trees, no matter...
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