Oh when will the weather warm up again? Well it’s still wet and cold but although this has seemedto hold some summer visiting birds up a little,we do now have a fair amount of Swallows around the area.These amazing little birds, like so many of our other summer visitors have
found their way back to the very place they were born. Once you have a
successful Swallows nest in your barn it is very likely that the Swallows will return year after year and this can be said for most other summer migrants. The screaming Swifts have just come in too although not in full numbers yet. You can see them in most of  the area around Dorking and one place in particular that I like to watch them is in Capel where they nest in the eves of the church in the middle of the village. You can see them here flying very low sometimes, all round the church (and pub) screaming at the top of their voices. They seem to get louder as the summer progress’s.

Another very interesting little bird which is not so often seen, that has also come back to its birthplace is the Redstart. I was lucky enough to see both a male and female last week on Leith Hill where I have seen them in previous years. The male is a stunning looking bird, roughly
the size of a Robin, with a bright redish orange belly and breast, black throat and a slate grey back and cap with a flash of white above its eye’s and bill. You can see a rusty red tail too as it flies away from you. Other interesting birds in this area are the singing Woodlarks, a small rather
short and chubby bird and now the summer visiting much slimmer Tree pipits. You can see and hear these songsters from high in tree’s or in a song flight where they fly upwards and then seem to parachute back down to the trees.

Oh well, now looking forward to some more settled weather which will finally see all of our summer visitors in and hopefully beginning a successful breeding season which I will be reporting on in my next blog coming soon.

You can spot birds every day, all day by simply looking out
of your window or better still going for a walk outside, but can you identify them all. With the aid of a pair of binoculars or for the keen watcher a spotting telescope, this task is made a lot easier, and I hope to be able to help you out even more by giving you useful hints on identification features of certain birds.

Let’s take the year so far. Within the first week my own Beare Green garden list was up to 30 species, the highlights being an assortment of various Finches and Tits at my feeding station, not forgetting the wonderfully cheeky pair of Nuthatches plus soaring Buzzards above and the constant flow overhead of our wintering thrushes, Fieldfares and Redwings, flying around in search of the best food available. My garden list is now approaching 50!

The winter hails an interesting bird on a regular basis to the River Mole in Leatherhead. Earlier in the year I counted 7 Goosanders, a diving sawbill duck species, on the river, on the west side of Leatherhead
near to the railway bridges. They are a very streamline duck an extremely skilled at diving. Another skilled diver seen here too is the Little Grebe, so small you could easily miss it and whilst you’re looking carefully here, be ready for a flash of iridescent blue speeding through the air which would be a kingfisher and if you’re lucky you may see one perching on an overhanging branch watching out for its next meal!

The winter has also seen good numbers of Crossbills (which have now bred) on Leith Hill together with plenty of both Common and Lesser
redpolls, Siskins and Bramblings. These small birds are a delight to the eye, but for a good look at them, binoculars are a must as they all spend most of the time high in the trees. Easier birds to see are birds of prey because of their large size. Look upwards and around anywhere to see Kestrels famed for hovering, Sparrowhawks famed for dashing and darting through narrow passages and for Buzzards, famed for soaring round and round seemingly without a care in the world! We also have the pleasure of the fastest animal on earth (or just above the earth!)
down the road from Dorking living around the white cliffs of the North Downs. The Peregrine falcon is capable of diving through the sky after its prey at an astonishing 150 mph.

As we leave winter behind, we start hearing more bird song, although the Song thrush started singing as early as January followed by the gorgeous sounds of the Blackbird in February but now that spring has arrived we hear so many other birds in song. If you get up early in the morning just before it gets light you will be truly amazed at the dawn chorus, an eruption of beautiful noise to behold!

So now that spring has sprung, the most exciting time of year in the birding fraternity has begun – the arrival of our summer visitors and birds on passage. First summer visitor to normally arrive in the Dorking
area is the Chiff chaff, a small Warbler that flits around from tree to tree singing out its rather monotonous song which simply goes chiff chaff chiff chaff. Another early Warbler to the area is the very distinctive Blackcap, again, a small bird generally light grey but with the obvious black cap or brown cap in the case of the female bird. Easier birds to see arriving for the summer are those known as hirundines. These include Swallows, House martins and Sand martins, all of which have been seen already in small numbers in the area. Later to arrive will be the screaming Swifts. Other notable summer arrivals seen and heard have been Whitethroats and Willow warblers and the slightly more unusual Lesser whitethroat, one of which arrived in Capel a couple of weekends ago together with probably Britain’s best song bird the Nightingale. Hearing is believing! I heard 4 last week in the scrubby areas east of Capel, I am expecting more to arrive by the end of the month as this is a regular spot for them to breed each summer. Also reported from this area last weekend was Britain’s smallest bird, the slightly unusual Firecrest, not to be confused with the more common Goldcrest seen all over the area, which lacks the white eye stripe of the Firecrest.

There have been some more unusual birds seen in the area this year. These birds are normally on passage, in other words passing by from
their wintering grounds to where they will eventually breed, but sometimes stopping off for a while to feed. Late March and early April saw a passage of Red Kites (Probably up to 30 different sightings) passing through the area. These were seen from various sites. I personally saw 2 over Beare Green on different days and 1 over
Leith Hill where several others have been reported. They are easily identified by their reddish brown plumage, long wings and notable forked tail. Another large bird of prey reported at the end of March was an Osprey which was seen flying high, northwards over Capel whilst a travelling Ring ouzel was seen feeding up on worms and other morsels on Coldharbour cricket pitch. These are rather like blackbirds but with a scalier plumage and a very distinctive white crescent across their breast.

Do watch out for another Dorking Bird Blog update soon when I shall be going through all the latest sightings of interest from within our area.

Just before Christmas, we were paid a visit by Opticron - who brought their brand new ED-X binocular to show us - and we were very impressed.  It's now been officially launched and our demo models will be here shortly - so it's time to post a few of our thoughts.

From a specifications point of view, the ED-X is a bit special.  It pretty much ticks all the boxes - ED objective lenses, wide 7.5 degree field of view, waterproof, light weight (650g), close focus (1.9m) and multi-stage eyecups.... what's not to like?  Believe it or not, you can have all of this for under £300!

Let's look at the handling first.  What strikes you about the ED-X is that it is, frankly, a little on the small side.  In fact, I thought it was an 8x32 - and was quite surprised to find it housed 42mm objective lenses... it just doesn't feel that big.  It's also very light - so for walkers who would have been limited to a smaller model previously, the ED-X provides a new option with a bit more light-gathering ability.  The other striking thing is Opticron's new 'Micro-bridge' (and that is a trademark!).  This is a very compact bridge that not only cuts down on the weight but gives the wraparound feel of an open-hinge binocular in a single-hinge design - genius!  Finally, the focuser assembly is rather nice too - with a big focus wheel (easy to use with gloves) that also incorporates a click-stop dioptre adjustment.

From a "looks" point of view, the ED-X is a bit daring.  The first thing to strike you is the silver bridge - unusual on a 'quality' binocular (let's face it, silver coloured bits are usually found on the sort of binoculars one might buy at a certain catalogue store....). However it looks fairly decent and isn't out of place on such a modern design. The rubber armouring is fairly standard and free of any weirdness, so that shouldn't put anyone off it either.  The padded strap and integral removable lens caps are good quality extras, and a modern zipped neoprene case completes what is an attractive, modern package.

Comfort has been well catered for with the ED-X - the rubber armour is 'soft touch' and the eyecups are superb - with an incredible 4 positions on the 8x42 (3 on the 10x42).  Eye relief is a respectable 19mm (8x42) and 17mm (10x42). Coupled with a wide interpupillary distance range from 58 to 77mm, this binocular should be able to fit just about any face.

So - on to the important stuff - how does it perform?  We were very impressed indeed with this aspect of the binocular.  Not only was the image very sharp, but that sharpness went closer to the edge of the view than we have seen in any comparable binocular - only the very outside edge showed any softness at all and this was minimal. Colour was also very well-corrected - high contrast views showed no evidence of false colour, even at the very edge of the view.  Having stopped trying to catch it out then, we took a moment to absorb the view - and it was a very good one.  Detail was excellent and the binoculars felt very bright and clear on both near and distant objects.  Close focus matched the specification and revealed immense detail on objects between two and five metres.  Even the usual 'pin-cushion' bending effect seen on long, straight objects like lamp-posts, though present (as it is in all binoculars without flattening lenses), was minimized.

Having re-read everything I've written above, I realise that I might sound a little 'gushy' - and this is unusual for me - as I'm normally good at finding those things that differentiate a binocular (to put it politely)... but it's been really hard to fault this binocular - Opticron have a real winner here.  In fact, I'm going to go further than that - the ED-X is almost certainly going to be a complete game-changer.  It brings good ED glass below the £300 price point, with light weight thrown in too.  I'm struggling to find anything that will compete with it at this price.  Limited stock is available in January, and honestly, I can't wait!

Well it's something we've been asked for many times - and it seems odd that Swarovski Optik, who are arguably top dog in the hunting community (pardon the pun), haven't produced this before.  That said, this is something really special...

The first thing you notice about the EL RANGE is that there is a little lump underneath it. This is Swarovski's answer to keeping the profile of the EL (which does, after all, stand for Ergonomic Light) whilst still incorporating the complex laser circuitry needed to provide accurate range-finding.  So basically, you can expect an EL binocular - complete with its lovely slim open-hinge design - but with a small 'lump' under еаch ocular that contains the clever bit.  I'm only looking at pictures (sadly) so I can't tell you how much the 'lump' affects the handling, but if I know Swarovski, they'll have put it close enough to the front of the binocular to avoid interfering with where you put your thumbs.

Further inspection reveals that the EL RANGE actually has a twin dioptre adjustment - unlike any other binocular I've ever picked up! This is because Swarovski have incorporated the range readout as an LED display overlaid on the main optics - as a result it is necessary to be able to adjust both left and right oculars individually, so that the main focus wheel, which doesn't affect the LED display's focus, is able to focus the binocular as a whole.  There is an even harder-to-read explanation on the very flashy dedicated Swarovski microsite at http://el-range.swarovskioptik.com/

Weight is an interesting one.  The EL RANGE weighs around 900g - which is only 65g heavier than the EL42... You will notice that I am comparing it to the EL42 - this is because the EL RANGE only comes (at release) in either 8x42 or 10x42.  Note too that I said '8x42' where of course the standard EL42 comes in 8.5x42.  Will Swarovski release a 10x50 or 12x50 model for low-light users?  They're saying nothing yet - but it does seem like a logical next step.  Anyway, this light weight makes the addition of the rangefinder a very small compromise weight-wise, and it compares well to competing RF binoculars.

Other specs remain as impressive as the EL SWAROVISION in most respects - a vast 7.8 degree field of view (on the 8x42), and an inter-pupillary distance of up to 74mm - which accommodates almost everyone, especially when combined with a +/- 5 dioptre adjustment on each eyepiece!  There are a couple of compromises hidden in there too though - a dramatically extended close focus distance of 5m - and a lack of the field-flattening lenses that made the SWAROVISION model so well-reviewed.  Full specs are to be found on the Swarovski main website at http://www.swarovskioptik.us/en_us/products/binoculars_el-range

The EL RANGE is pretty clever too - it gives full ballistics information including a unique trick they call 'SWARO-AIM' - the binocular checks the angle of the shot (vertically) and provides a trajectory that, independent of caliber, should give an accurate hit whether uphill or down. Swaro-aim claims to be the only angled-shot program in the World!  This function can be turned off, too, which should keep those who aren't equipped with guns a little happier.

The binocular does out-perform most stand-alone range-finders too - with accurate (+/- 1yd) range up to 1500 yards - along with automatically adjusting read-out brightness that changes dependent on that of the background - very funky!

So clearly Swarovski have come to this a little while after the competition - Carl Zeiss have had the Victory RF in their range for some time - but have they succeeded in producing a binocular that will blow away the competition?  Only time will tell, but we think they've come up with a very good product here - the ballistics features are a step ahead of other manufacturers and the compromise in size and weight is relatively small.  I suspect there will be a bit of upgrading here too - with hunters trading in their existing ELs for the new range-finding version.

We'll be at the Midland Game Fair in a couple of weeks (our stand is overlooking the main shooting range very close to Swarovski Optik) and we're hoping to give these a try then - I'll be posting an update once I've had a chance to look through them!

Guess what this is!

Okay, okay - I'll tell you - it's our new Viewpoint window display..... Quite bowled over by how it looks (even as it's being constructed) so I thought I would show you.  The picture has come from the workshops of In-House Joinery - our local Surrey-based joiners.

There is, of course, a greater significance in all this.  As you may well have noticed, we occupy part of Astronomia, an astronomy shop in Dorking.  This is no coincidence - Viewpoint Optics was originally created to smooth out the seasonality of our astronomy business, by providing extra sales during the Summer.  However it does give us a bit of an 'Achilles Heel' - quite simply, people don't generally notice that Astronomia happens to house what we think is the largest selection of binoculars in the South of England (certainly in the South-East of England!).  We've put a few pairs in the window, but it just doesn't seem to get the point across.

This all came out when we attended the English National Sheepdog Trials last weekend.  There we spoke to a great many local people, many of whom simply didn't know that we sold binoculars - and this got us thinking!  So behold the fabulous new window display unit.... housing no less than 26 pairs of premium binoculars - and firmly making the point that this little astronomy shop in Dorking is a:

• Swarovski Optik Premier Authorised Dealer
• Carl Zeiss Sports Optics Centre Partner
• Opticron Demonstration Centre
• Hawke Sports Optics Authorised Dealer
• Viking Binocular Centre
• Celestron Authorised Dealer
• Helios Authorised Dealer
• Manfrotto Authorised Dealer......

As usual, we'll be cleaning binoculars for charity donations to the Brigitte Trust, and of course we'll be on hand to help with any other optical requirements you might have.

Entry to the Sheepdog Trials is a mere £2.50 (adult) so why not join us and enjoy this true country sport while it's local?

When Warnham Local Nature Reserve asked us if we'd like to do an Optics Event this year, we jumped at the chance.  Warnham is one of those undiscovered gems as far as nature goes... a beautiful and peaceful lake (known as the 'millpond' owing to its history) and acres of woodland mean a huge variety of species and stunning, almost untouched views from the moment you walk through the gate.  We did a day there last year and couldn't wait to go back.

My kids enjoyed it and so did many of our customers - who we invited down to the event (thanks for all your support!).  We also managed to raise a few quid for our chosen charity, the Brigitte Trust, with our charity binocular cleaning.

We absolutely loved our two days there - and we'll be back again for the RSPB 'Feed the Birds' Day on 30th October.

'The Tike' is our super-economical company vehicle, a Toyota IQ - which we take to shows, nature reserves and all over the place - but until now it has been a boring white... not anymore!

Some local friends of ours at Bossdog (www.bossdog.co.uk) in Dorking designed and then applied a full-body wrap to it so it now features 'Sarah Brockett' - the hiking/birdwatching/insect-watching dog-walker from our latest advertisements.

The car also shows our major brands - Zeiss, Swarovski Optik, Opticron, Hawke and Manfrotto - whose kit we use and demonstrate every day.  Amazingly, we can still see out of the rear window, too!

The Tike's debut event in its new outfit will be the CLA Game Fair which takes place in just a couple of days!