The Complete Naturalist

As a naturalist you will spend a lot of time trying to get close to wildlife while that same wildlife is doing its best to run away from you. Almost every animal you are eager to observe is ready to run at the merest hint of a rustle, cough or hiccup, so it may seem that the odds are stacked against you. But, as you will find throughout this book, there are a few tricks you can employ to redress the balance. The first is to make yourself as invisible as possible when you are close to a subject, and the second is to keep your distance in the first place. From afar you can observe but not interfere, and that’s where a pair of binoculars or a telescope come into their own.

A bit of a luxury: spotting scopes take you even closer and allow you to really immerse yourself in the details of distant, shy wild lives.

This is a technique that is most useful when you are watching mammals but applies to most other kinds of wildlife too. Remember that when you are out in the field you could bump into a mammal at any moment, and by following these simple rules you can extend the encounter and learn much more.

Blend into the background: wear dark, quiet clothes so that you make as little visual impact and as little noise as possible (see here).

Be aware of every noise your body makes: not only obvious things such as footsteps and cracking twigs, but also clothing noise, catching on vegetation and even breathing.

Be conscious of the wind direction: if you suddenly stumble into an exciting situation, it is good to know instinctively where to go. Regularly check even the slightest fairy breath of air movement by dropping a feather, chalk dust or ordinary dust from the ground if the terrain is dry enough. Keep the wind in your face or at least not behind you. For many terrestrial mammals, smell is the most important sense and the one that usually gives you away first. The importance of wind direction cannot be overemphasised; in unfamiliar territory it can literally be a matter of life and death. Sure, it will ruin your day if you come across some deer and the wind direction gives you away, but imagine turning a bush and finding a Black Rhino already mid-charge, because it knew where you were coming from before you even realised it was there! This kind of experience can make for exciting tales, if you survive, but from the point of view of the naturalist who wants to observe without interfering with his subjects, you would have failed. Yes, you would have seen some interesting behaviour, but you would have altered it considerably.

More haste, less speed: move deliberately and expect the unexpected, especially as you move through visual barriers or approach spots where you are likely to find your quarry. Try to think like the animals you are after.

On sighting: move very slowly, using natural cover if possible. Reduce your outline by slowly crouching down to the ground. Keeping low means there is less of your body profile to be seen and you present a non-threatening shape to your quarry.

Never make sudden movements: well, I say this as a general rule, but sometimes I find that, if an animal is distracted for a moment, I can take the opportunity to get into the position I want, quickly. There is a fine line between making yourself comfortable and blowing your chances; only experience will tell you what you can and cannot get away with.

Use your senses: humans are blessed with better noses, ears and eyes than we often give ourselves credit for. Most of us walk about looking but not seeing, hearing but not listening and sniffing but not smelling. Train yourself to use what nature gave you effectively.

There is no simple answer to the question of what to wear. It’s more a case of what not to wear, and this depends entirely on what you intend to do while wearing it. But there are a number of ‘crimes of the cloth’ that can be avoided with a little bit of foresight.

Colour really doesn’t matter as much as you may think. I have seen people dressed up in military camouflage, looking like extras from an Arnold Schwarzenegger film, with all the latest real tree-print jackets, face nets and gloves, who blow their cover simply by stepping out from behind a bush at the wrong time, moving in the wrong way, breaking cover on the crest of a hill or sneezing. It’s really how you move that is critical.

But why run the risk of attracting unwanted attention to yourself in the first place? Generally the best colours are dowdy ones that wouldn’t look out of place in nature. Personally I like black, as it doesn’t look out of place in the street either.

Material: you don’t want that rustle in the bushes to be you! Hearing is an important sense for some of the more highly strung animals, acting as an early warning system. So you need to keep noise to a minimum, and that includes your clothes. Waterproof tops or shell layers are the worst culprits. You would be surprised how noisy a pair of nylon trousers or a waterproof jacket can be – they may not be huge on the decibel scale, but they will not only drive you insane as you ‘swizz, swizz, swizz’ along, but they will also give away your position to any animal in the vicinity. As an alternative, materials such as Ventile, a super-dense cotton weave used to make military immersion suits, may be a bit more expensive but are a worthwhile investment if you are going to spend long hours out of doors. If your budget is small, self-awareness is the key. This isn’t a bad discipline for naturalists anyway, so look on it as a kind of training exercise. It is possible to walk quietly in even the noisiest of fabrics, by being aware of what is creating the noise. Usually it is legs rubbing against legs or arms against torso, so try to avoid these movements while you walk.

Zippers or flaps? Zips jingle and rattle with every movement, but can be silenced by sticking down the tag with Blu-tack or duct tape. Space-age technology has given us Velcro, which is great for sealing pockets and zippers, but many a flock of geese or a Pine Marten has been sent flapping or flinging its way into the great yonder by someone diving noisily for a pocketed field guide or Kit Kat. This also brings us to the great Velcro dilemma. Do you tear the surfaces apart quickly and make one short, sharp noise, or slowly, which is a little quieter but with the noise sustained for longer? As always, the situation determines.

Dress quietly: don’t keep loose change in your pockets; the jingle of coins can blow the cover of even the most camouflaged naturalist. Loose Wellington boots are among the worst culprits for making clunking noises. Either get some that fit snugly or wear lace-up boots. Rustly layers are usually waterproof ones. Keep waterproofs tucked away in a bag when you are not using them.

If you are working in the cold, you need good gloves. Mittens are the warmest, although you have to take them off for any tasks requiring dexterity. Some fingerless gloves come with mitten covers and are a great ‘best of both worlds’ solution.

For flexibility in varying weather conditions, I usually start with a sweat-wicking underlayer (that means that it carries the sweat away from your body and stops you getting uncomfortably hot). Then I build up with multiple lightweight layers and a fleece. A shell layer can be added on top for water- and wind-proofing. When working in the wet, I like waterproof socks. Even if your boots let in water, these socks mean you remain dry right to their tops.

Hats are very useful for colder weather or if you are out at night. Beanies are warm but get wet, brimmed hats are useful for keeping water off your head and away from shoulders but still expose your ears. On hot days a brimmed hat also helps keep the sun off your neck. Baseball caps are useful if you are working in and against the sun. Not only do they keep the sun off your face, but they also act as a visor, meaning you don’t have to keep raising your hand to your brow to shield your eyes against the glare.

I like a hat. Beyond the Mick Dundee, Indiana Jones clichés, they serve many purposes beyond the obvious. I’ve used them for catching snakes and centipedes and transferring frog spawn from a drying out pond.

A versatile piece of lightweight clothing that I find indispensable is the ‘buff’. These tubes of material come in a variety of colours and patterns; some are of a thin and stretchy fabric, others are thick and fleecy for winter wear. They can be worn as a kind of draught excluder around your neck, or as a head band, hat, scarf or face mask for keeping out cold air or even breaking up the outline of your face in the field.

Pockets are good, but too many pockets can be bad when it comes to finding what you are looking for. Get into the habit of having special places for certain items, and you will spend less time fumbling.

Most of a naturalist’s skill lies in observation, and by putting distance between yourself and your subject, you are less likely to influence natural behaviour. Thanks to a Dutch optician who invented the telescope back in the 1600s, we are able to look further afield than we could with the naked eye. With binoculars and telescope, we can effectively draw our subjects closer to us, so that we can see the details without interfering.

As a naturalist you can skimp and bodge and make do with most things, but good binoculars are essential. Fortunately the technology boom has brought the birder’s badge of status within the price range of many who would previously have had to choose between buying a car and owning a pair of quality German optics. I’m not an equipment snob, but when it comes to binoculars, accept no compromise. In a nutshell, you get what you pay for, and so always buy the best you can afford. Cheap binoculars rarely deliver. In fact the view through some is so restricted and dull that, despite the magnification, I can honestly say that, if you were to forget the binoculars and use the eyes you were born with, you would see more of the subject! Binoculars should be a pleasure to use. They will become an extension of yourself, and a friend for life, and most importantly, they should be with you and accessible wherever you go.

Well, it’s horses for courses; first of all, decide what you are going to be using them for and how often. Are they to sit in the glove compartment of your car, or are you going to drag them through the wilds of Outer Mongolia, miles from the nearest lens cloth? Are you going to use them once every leap year, or will they become your life companions, never leaving your bosom? Are you going to hand-hold them for birdwatching or set them up on a tripod to watch crepuscular mammals or scan the ocean for sharks?

Once you have answered these questions, the rest is relatively easy: just keep the following points in mind and remember that you are selecting binoculars for you. People are different – what suits one person will not suit another and, because you can be lured into parting with a lot of cash for top models, the wrong choice can be an expensive one.

You mustn’t put anything but good glass between you and your subjects. Don’t even entertain the plastic cheap thing, you’ll be worse off than using your eyes!

The price to pay or pay the price: at the risk of preaching, it really is that simple: the more you spend, the better the adjustment binoculars, and the better the binoculars, the more you will use them. The better quality the optics, the clearer the image, and because things look great through them, you will use them more often because you want to! They will also be built better, last longer and become friends for life, even heirlooms. Got the message?

What type? There are two main body styles: porroprism, the traditional ‘old-school’ binocular with an angled body; and roof-prism, the kind with a straight barrel that is fashionable at present. At the cheaper end of the market, porroprism is better as there are fewer reflective surfaces for the light to pass through; start spending more than say £250, and the optically corrected roof prisms rule.

Quality on a budget? Go for a second-hand pair. Good binoculars rarely go wrong, they don’t rust and you can tell if they are seriously damaged by simply looking at the lenses and holding them to your eyes – even then a good brand will probably be easily repairable. Once you have worked out exactly what you want, look in the back of local free papers, optical catalogues and birdwatching magazines. This is what I did, and I still own my first pair of Zeiss dialyts.

Magnification: the properties of binoculars are specified by two numbers, such as 8×32, which will be written on them somewhere. The first indicates the magnification and means that the image you see through the binocular will appear that many times closer to you (i.e. eight times closer in this example). Magnification can vary from 4× to 16×, and the most useful for the naturalist is between 8× and 10×. For beginners and for those wanting more depth of field, in other words more of the scene in focus, which you would need in dense vegetation, 7× and 8× are best; they are also easier to hold steady without technique. For watching raptors and distant birds at sea, 10× are superb. Anything more than this, and tiny movements from your body, your heartbeat and breathing, combined with environmental factors such as the wind, make the image so shaky that the trade-off is not worth it. Also, the higher the magnification, the duller the image.

Whalewatching, birdwatching, even trying to find the ice cream van at the end of the beach, binoculars are invaluable when you’re out and about. Invest in a good pair.

Stay away from zoom lenses – they are a bit of a gimmick, unless they are built by the higher-end brands, and then they are expensive. Zoom models rarely do what they are supposed to; the quality of the image is inconsistent across the ranges, and so you tend not to use the feature very often; and because the mechanism itself is complicated and fragile, it is more likely to malfunction and need repairing.

Image-stabilising technology, developed by Canon, allows the use of higher magnification in hand-held binoculars without hand shake and is now found in camera lenses, too. Complicated electric-trickery inside the body of the binoculars means steady, high magnifications can be achieved. These binoculars are worth checking out – some people swear by them, though other people complain of a nausea akin to seasickness after extended periods of use.

The letter ‘B’ after the magnification means that they have push-down or rubber eye caps, so that if you wear glasses, you can use them without reducing your field of view.

Don’t get drawn into the brand snobbery that exists; there are many types of binoculars and spotting scopes. Try out as many as you can until you find the right one for you.

Brightness: the second number in the pair gives the diameter of the objective lens. This is the lens through which the light enters at the other end of the binocular from the eyepiece. It may not seem as important as magnification, but it has a huge effect on the quality of the image. The bigger the objective lens, the more light enters the binoculars and the brighter the image. This brightness is important as it determines the detail seen. The size of the binoculars is governed by this second number, not by magnification.

Focus: a maximum of two revolutions of the focus wheel should cover the focus range of the binocular.

Optics: high-density glass (HD) or BAK-4 rather than BK-7 boro-silicate glass may seem an insignificant detail but is the major difference between a dull grey blob and a bird with feathers and identity. It’s also the main factor in determining price.

Exit pupil: this is the bright hole you see when you look into the eyepiece from a distance – it represents the light entering the binoculars. The exit pupil is given by dividing the size of the objective lens by the magnification. So for a pair of 8×42 binoculars, the exit pupil is 5.2mm (42/8). Anything above 3.75 mm should cover most naturalists’ needs.

Field of view: aim for approximately 120m at 1,000m. The wider the field of view, the easier it is to find your subject. Sometimes the field of view is quoted in degrees, and this refers to the field of view at 1,00 m (about 1,100yd). So if the field of view is quoted as 1°, you will be able to see a range of 17m at a distance of 1,000m.

Glass and prism coatings: go for those that are multi-coated and, in the case of roof prisms, those that have correctional coatings, too.

Quality of build: good-quality binoculars are fairly robust; they may be metal-bodied or even have rubber armour. The initials ‘GA’ or ‘RA’ show that there is some kind of armour or protective coating. But build quality can come with a price other than the obvious financial one. The question of weight comes into play, and nobody enjoys hanging a brick around their neck on a piece of string.

When it comes to choosing binoculars, the question of weight comes into play, nobody enjoys hanging a brick around their neck on a piece of string.

Comfort and feel: these are personal things – if the most desirable optics in the world feel wrong in your hand, don’t balance well, are a nuisance to use or are to just too heavy, they won’t work for you. When buying, try different styles, brands and magnifications until you find the pair that feels right for you. Choose a weight that will be comfortable hanging around your neck, possibly for hours on end, and a size that will fit your hands but allow your index finger to fall on the focus wheel without stretching.

Indestructibility: another very good reason, in fact the best reason, to splash out. This one word should be used in every binocular catalogue and by every binocular sales rep. A good pair of binoculars is one that you don’t have to worry about, that is robust enough to cope with being dragged through bushes and falling off rocks or out of trees. A more expensive pair is also likely to be gas-sealed, which makes it both waterproof and dust-proof. Believe me, this gives you such peace of mind. There is nothing worse than being caught in a downpour and having to worry about your optics getting wet. Mine regularly get a soaking and so far have survived being dropped off a boat into the sea and tangled in the muddy coils of an anaconda.

Tender loving care: another plus for waterproof binoculars is that if they get dusty, sandy or muddy – regular hazards and the kiss of death to the workings and lenses of cheaper designs – you can simply rinse them off under the tap or wash them in mild soapy water and let them dry on the drainer before polishing the lenses with a lens cloth.

Try them out: take your time selecting the binocular for you. Do not allow yourself to be swayed by any sales rep. Try as many pairs as you like. Field centres, observatories and even optical suppliers have open days or will allow you to hold and use their products before you part with your cash. If they don’t, go elsewhere – they don’t deserve your money.

Protection: once you have selected the exotic optics of your dreams, persuaded the bank to give you that second mortgage and got the pair home, the first thing you should do is get rid of the lens caps. They will be a hassle and a hindrance when you spring for your binoculars in haste to try to identify that bird that’s about to dive. In fact, other than for travel, when you need to protect them, your binoculars should never be put away in a case.

I am frequently horrified when I borrow someone else’s binoculars at how badly they are set up or when I mention the adjustment of the diopter and nobody knows what I’m talking about. So here are the two key points to personalising your binoculars and getting the best view on the world.

Get your IPD correct: interpupillary distance is the distance between your eyes. Everyone is different, which is why binoculars come with a hinge. Look at a distant object with the barrels far apart and then move them together until the image is represented by a nice clean circle. Some binoculars have a scale on them for this. If you are in the habit of lending yours, mark your own setting with a pen or a scratch so that you can restore it easily when you get them back.

Adjust your diopter: for most people there is a difference between the focus of the right and left eye. Most binoculars have a function that accommodates this, and getting it right is a beautiful thing, as everything looks much sharper. It feels more relaxing for the eyes, too.

Different designs have different ways of doing this. If your binoculars have a central focusing wheel, shut your right eye and use the wheel to focus the image you see. Then set the right-eye diopter by shutting your left eye and rotating the barrel of the right eyepiece. Make a note or a mark in case you knock it out of alignment. Once your diopter is set, the focus wheel will focus both eyes.

Some brands have a locking diopter ring on the central focusing barrel; it works in much the same way, but is less easily knocked out of position. A few makes have diopter adjustments on both eyepieces – these have to be reset if you change the distance of the object you are viewing.

Other ways to use binoculars

Yet another surprisingly useful quality of a pair of binoculars if you’ve left your magnifying lens behind.

A pair that focus close up can be very handy for watching and identifying larger insects, such as butterflies and dragonflies. Close-focus binoculars allow you to focus on near objects more easily. They can also be used as a magnifying apparatus, enabling you to look at tiny details.

The two most important bits of equipment a birdwatcher can have are a good pair of binoculars and a good field guide. For me, top American birdwatching advocate Pete Dunne sums up their importance beautifully: ‘One confers supernatural intimacy, the other a blueprint to discovery. Together they buy a person passage on a lifelong treasure hunt.’

A field guide has to do exactly what it says on the cover: guide you through the process of distinguishing the species you are looking at from all other possibilities and be practical to use in the field. By this I mean that it has to be easily transportable, preferably small enough to fit in a pocket. For some of the recent works of art that cover countries with a huge diversity of birds, it may be worth considering a pouch or bag designed to fit around your waist by being attached to your belt – a much more comfortable way of carrying a large-format book around than the traditional method of jamming it down the back of your trousers. The latter practice should be restricted to smaller guides and to occasions when you do not have to wear a backpack and when the weather is not so hot that your sweat turns even the more robust publications into papier mâché!

Choosing a field guide is really a matter of personal taste. There is no single one that does everything well – they each have their flaws, biases and layout issues – but you will soon develop your favourites.

To get an idea of some of the best available, check out the RSPB Handbook of British Birds or, for North America, The North American Bird Guide (2nd edition) by David Sibley. Having said that, I have heard dissatisfied mumblings about both from various bird hides around the world! What it boils down to and the thing to take home is whatever works for you. A good book is one that allows you to identify the birds that you see and, as with all these things, every publisher is always striving to improve, and so even your own favourites may change over time.

A good field guide is organised to enable you to find the bird you want easily – this normally means either in a standard taxonomic order or by visual similarities. To my mind, the most important features are good illustrations that point out noteworthy characteristics and separate a given species from others, especially those species over which confusion often arises in the field. They should also make you aware of any difference between the sexes, or in appearance in flight, and any other plumage variations such as juvenile, breeding or winter feathers that may throw you off the scent. I avoid photographic guides because I have yet to see one done well. Photographs are restricted in what they can show, and even though a camera doesn’t lie, it doesn’t always have the flexibility to show all you want to see in the small space allocated to each bird.

I also like a distribution map, ideally on the same page as the identification plates. This is really handy when you are birding in a new and unfamiliar place and have to start from scratch. I will never forget my first trip to Guyana, where I awoke to a dawn chorus unlike any I had ever heard before. As soon as I peered out of the hotel window, it was as if I were five years old again. My birding skills were reduced to excited shouts of, ‘Oh look, there’s a blue one, and a yellow one and here come five red and green ones!’ I had absolutely no idea what I was looking at. Once I had calmed down a bit, my field guide became part of my body, my best friend and an essential organ without which I felt I would perish. Even though there are many pleasures in just looking and watching, the conscious decision to look something up in a book is the beginning of a learning process. To have invested even the tiniest bit of effort in turning a few pages means that the experience somehow sticks better in your head. You become aware of other lookalikes, and you embark on the journey of enlightenment.

One other thing to remember about field guides is not to get too precious about them. If you are scared to use it in case it gets grubby, dogeared or damp, then it isn’t working as a field guide. If you are that worried, buy two! Keep one at home all nice and shiny on the bookshelf, and in the other, make notes, draw, tick and add your own observations in the margin. I have seen some birders totally deface their books by tearing out and laminating the colour identification plates to carry around, leaving the text part of the book (the heavy words) behind at home to be checked out later. Others add their own keys and stick on colour references – it really doesn’t matter and remember they go out of date.

There are now birding Apps available that can be used on iPhones and Android phones and tablets. They are useful for quick identification, come with bird sounds and some allow easy comparison of similar birds. Apps are portable and often more lightweight than field guides, but you need to buy the host device, which can be expensive. The bird sounds must be used responsibly, see Code of practice.

Two birdwatcher’s bestsellers, nearly every region of the world now has a fine field guide that you can put in your pocket.

The telescope – the best thing since binoculars! You may think that this is a real luxury in the naturalist’s armoury, representing more ‘stuff’ to cart around, but a good telescope revolutionises the optical and nature experience and, if you have the resources and are serious about your observations, is a very worthwhile investment. If you are worried about size and weight, the new generation of mini spotting scopes is so good that I rarely use my ‘Goliath’ model any more and opt for the little ‘David’ version that I can fit into my waist pack.

Buying a telescope requires a certain amount of knowledge, as they come in component form – the body, the eyepiece and the support – and each has some bearing on the other. When choosing a telescope the same overall rules as for binoculars apply, with just a few exceptions:

Magnification: because you are dealing with much higher magnifications than with binoculars – from 15× to 60× – any instability in your support will be noticeable. In telescopes with a fixed eyepiece, a range of between 15× and 30× is normal. But most now come with interchangeable eyepieces, and so if you have any doubts, you can always buy more than one. For general work, between 20× and 30× is good, but for more distant viewing, you can up the magnification to 40× or even 50× and, though they are not a good idea with binoculars, zoom eyepieces work well with the larger objective lens bodies.

Weight: because of the larger bodies and higher magnification, most telescopes require a larger objective lens. This makes for a heavier device and is the biggest contributor to the telescope being left at home. Smaller, more compact models are a good compromise – try one with a 60mm objective lens and a 20× eyepiece.

Colour fringing can be a problem with telescopes. It means that objects appear to be outlined in a coloured halo, especially at higher magnifications. The higher-end models often use extra-low dispersion (ED) glass which eliminates this. Watch out for this disconcerting effect when trying out telescopes.

What type of scope? There are two different body designs to choose from, straight and angled, and both have their uses. The straight body makes it easier to locate your subject – you simply sight it up along the barrel. Some even have a gun-style sight on the outside to help with this. The straight design is also better when you are sitting down in hides, assuming you can get behind them (some hides now have fixed benches and seats, which can make getting behind your scope difficult) and it tends to be a little cheaper. Angled (with an eyepiece at 45 degrees to the main body) is easier to use if you are tall or if you are viewing birds in trees or in flight, as the angle reduces neck ache. The best feature of this design, though, is that you do not have to have your tripod so high and so it is a more stable set-up. It’s also easier if you are sharing your scope with others; people with different heights cope better with an angled scope.

Scopes come in two configurations – angled (above) and straight (below) – each have their advantages and disadvantages.

Scopes come in different configurations – this one has a straight eyepiece. Most favour angled nowadays but both have advantages and disadvantages. Have a play.

Supports: obviously telescopes can be pricey, especially if you buy more than one eyepiece, but do not skimp when it comes to support. Whether you go for a monopod, tripod or some kind of clamp arrangement, the world’s best scope may as well be a cardboard toilet roll tube for all the use it will be with a cheap support.

Photography: if you intend to use your telescope with a camera attachment, it is worth remembering that it was not primarily designed for this function and the quality will be far removed from what you would experience looking through a camera lens of equivalent focal length. Having said that, there is a new generation of digi-scoping technology which utilises the recent advances in digital cameras, with the removal of film and the ‘mystery’ about what you have managed to take a picture of. This can clarify any doubts about identification and be a handy addition to your field notes, too.

Using your telescope

Carbon fibre tripods are tough but lightweight, excellent for taking out in the field.

Other than knowing which end to look through (it’s usually the little end, by the way), the only loosely technical thing is the support the scope sits on. There is an enormous number of different heads and grips, all with different mechanisms. Try out lots of options and choose the one that fits your budget and feels right. With a lower magnification, say 15x–20x, you can use a monopod or lie on your back with your feet in the air and support the scope between your knees – both ways of reducing the amount of weight you cart around with you. But if you can afford it, the perfect combination is a compact scope of the highest quality and a sturdy carbon-fibre tripod – it’s what I use all the time.

I remember going Badger-watching on a night as black as pitch, hearing the movements of Badgers all around me and knowing that the moment I turned on my torch I would get a snapshot of Badger life before these highly secretive and jumpy mammals bolted in multiple directions, shattering the moment for all of us. These occasional glimpses were very special in themselves, but the more I did it, the more I would fantasise about how wonderful it would be to have a superhuman ability to see in the dark.

On a moonlit night, when your eyes have become accustomed to the dark, it is possible to see quite well, though details are still a little sketchy. But while I was playing my wishing games the world’s military and certain nocturnal hunters were, unbeknown to me, already using the first versions of a technology that could make all my nocturnal dreams come true. Image intensifiers were just around the corner.

The first one I ever looked through was borrowed from my mammology lecturer at university. It was huge, like a bazooka, and seemed just as heavy, like a big, bulky Russian piece of downpipe, with a screw-on screen and a gun grip. Using it or even moving it around late at night made me look like some paramilitary nutcase on nocturnal manoeuvres – something I had a bit of trouble explaining to the police on several occasions!

But whatever the knock-on social and practical difficulties, the moment I turned it on was magic. I may as well have been watching fairies, as I was bathed in the eerie green glow that emanated from the eyepiece and the view of everything in the darkest woodland burned on my retinas. I have hankered after owning my own ever since.

Image intensifiers work by gathering ambient light such as moonlight and starlight through the front lens. These packets of light energy, called photons, then enter a photo-cathode that changes light to electrical energy. The energy is amplified by chemical and electric processes and hurled back through a phosphorus screen that turns the electrical signals back into visible – albeit green – light.

Night-vision devices come as first, second, third and fourth generation, a term that refers to the type of light-intensifier tube used. First generation are the most widely available; they also tend to be the cheapest and vary a lot in quality. Some give a reasonable image for the price, but at this level, the technology comes with a whining noise and a variable amount of distortion. The quality increases through the generations, with fourth generation being fantastic but well beyond the budget of most naturalists. Night-vision devices of all kinds are rated on two criteria: system light gain – how many times the tube amplifies the available light – and system resolution – how sharp the amplified image appears.

A volunteer warden uses night vision optics to observe a Manton Bay Osprey pair and their nest during the incubation period at Rutland Water, UK.

If you decide to buy one of these tubes of magic, many of the rules of choosing binoculars and telescopes apply. But, as the nature of night-vision devices means that it needs to be dark before you can use them, trying them out before you buy can be difficult. But do your best to test some different makes and qualities before you re-mortgage your house in order to afford one! What is most comfortable for you to use is a particularly relevant question, as image intensifiers come in such a variety of sizes and designs, from those that resemble telescopes and binoculars to devices that strap on to your head like a big pair of funky glasses.

One last piece of advice is stay clear of high-street shops selling these products. In my experience they only have them as novelty products and do not know what they are talking about. Always go to a specialist supplier.

As with binoculars and telescopes, a good microscope is not cheap, but if you are serious about studying the Lilliputian world, you should consider it an investment. It will last for a long time and has very few moving parts to go wrong. So if you have the cash, splash it. Whether you want to examine the internal workings of plants, microscopic animals, the structure of feathers, mammal hairs or even whole insects, microscopes are incredibly useful. I’ve used one to turn a group of uninterested kids into avid monster spotters! Who would have thought a droplet of greenish pond water with a few dots in it could keep the imagination and sense of discovery going among the PlayStation generation for a couple of hours or more? If you are not convinced, see if you can have a go on one in a laboratory somewhere, and I guarantee you will be converted.

Unless you are a multibillionaire, microscopes come in two forms: binocular and light.

If you plan to work with whole animals such as invertebrates, you want the binocular version. As the name suggests it has two eyepieces, enabling you to view your subject in three dimensions. It is designed to enable you to manipulate your specimen, either by hand or with tools, while focusing on it through the eyepieces – hence its other name of dissecting microscope. Because it is used with relatively large, solid subjects, the magnification is not huge, but most models have either interchangeable eyepieces or lenses of different magnifications mounted on a revolving carousel that give some flexibility, usually between 10× and 60× magnification. Some have platforms with built-in backlights; others have mounted lights that illuminate from above; while with others, you have to provide light from an extra bench-mounted source. If the last is the case, be aware that regular lights are also a source of heat, which your living subjects may not enjoy. The cold light of a fibre-optic lamp is much better, but of course comes at a price. Just keep the health and comfort of your subjects in mind at all times and expose them to bright light for as short a time as possible.

The light microscope works at much higher magnifications – up to 500×, which is enough to see the internal workings of cells. It is also great for investigating life forms that are normally invisible to the human eye. Stare down a light microscope at a droplet of water from any pond or puddle, and you will be transported into a fantastical world filled with one-eyed aliens, hollow spheres and spaceships.

Because of the nature of these microscopes they require more light and the subjects have to be semi-transparent to reveal themselves clearly. So prepare your specimens beforehand: slice plants on a microtome (the scientist’s equivalent of the deli-counter bacon slicer) to study their structure; squash or restrain other subjects on a microscope slide; and ‘clear’ others by treating them in a solution of potassium hydroxide, which dissolves the soft tissues, allowing the light to shine through. Staining can be very useful here – it is done with special biological dyes containing pigments that bond to some compounds in the specimen but not to others, making certain features stand out.

To keep specimens and preparations, wash them well in water and then, using a slide with a cavity, position the specimen plus a drop of gum chloral in the cavity. Seal with a coverslip, wipe away any excess gum and leave to dry. Larger preserved specimens can be positioned on a bed of tiny glass beads.

This is what we’re talking about. Although a view such as this, the coiled proboscis of a Painted Lady Butterfly, is taken under a very expensive electron microscope out of the range of a naturalist’s pocket, similarly fascinating insights can be gained with a light microscope.

Indispensable is the word to describe this small piece of naturalist’s kit, whether you are counting the hairs in a cockroach’s armpit, scrutinising the meanderings of a red spider mite or counting the stamens in a flower head. The two choices you need to make are what kind and what magnification. And the answers to both these questions very much depend on where and for what you will be using it.

The most basic type of magnifying lens, the type Sherlock Holmes used to use, is not very powerful, but its large field of view makes it handy in the field for observing subjects such as a feeding insect or a nest of ants. Back at base, a similar lens attached to a flexible stem or even a bench lens is useful for examining stationary objects, leaving both hands free to manipulate the subject, take notes or draw. Such lenses usually have a magnification of 2× or 3×, not huge but enough to view certain finer details without straining your eyes.

A watchmaker’s lens is another way of freeing both hands and with a little practice can be gripped in your eye socket for close work – though some people find it takes a bit of getting used to, and your ‘eyebrow muscle’ may feel tired at the end of an intense session!

By far the most popular and useful hand lens for the naturalist is the loupe lens. It is small, folds up into a self-protecting arrangement and is available in a variety of magnifications between 5× and 20×. Anything less than 8× is of little use to the naturalist, while only the most specialist scrutiniser working with the tiniest of details or organisms will ever need more than 15×. If you really cannot decide, you can buy a pocket loupe with multiple lenses. There are many cheap versions out there, but the higher the price the better it will be. Maintenance is no more than a quick rub with a lens cloth or clean tissue from time to time.

Hold the loupe in your favoured hand, then rest that hand on the bridge of your nose. Look through it with the opposite eye, focusing by changing the distance between object and loupe – sounds simple, but many struggle to focus by waving the lens around in mid-air.

It’s good to have your lens handy at all times, and so tie a piece of string around it and hang it round your neck. Keep it in its protective case to avoid it being scratched. If you have the choice, buy the kind with an adjustable screw-type pivot, but remember to tighten it regularly – I have had many excellent lenses fall to pieces because I have forgotten to do this.

There are many different types of magnifiers useful to the naturalist, in time you’ll find your favourites for the tasks you need to apply them too.

I have to be honest with you on this one: I find it hard to write notes when I’m in the field. The moment with a bird or insect is often so fleeting that I get caught up in its magic and forget about jotting down any kind of observation.

Getting into this habit is, however, really, really useful. I cannot emphasise enough how much I have learnt from the few notes I have actually written down. It is very easy to gaze in mindless wonder at the mysterious brown warbler that has just popped out of the bush for the briefest of moments, and not observe anything at all, as your memory will testify when you recall the moment later on.

The sort of awkward questions field guides ask you when you try to identify what you have just seen, like ‘What colour were its legs?’ ‘How long was its supercilium?’ and ‘Did it have any amount of streaking on its breast?’, become so much easier to answer if you get into the discipline of running through the likely points of note while the bird is sitting in front of you, memorising them and jotting them down as soon as you get the chance. It becomes easier with experience, as you get to know the groups of animals you are studying and learn, based on previous difficulties, which points of ID will be most useful to you.

This is something I discovered recently while snorkelling off a coral reef in East Africa. I would see a stunning trigger fish, but on getting out the field guide, I would be confronted with a page containing at least 15 candidates for what I had just observed, all of which could be separated by features much more subtle than those I had noted. Next day, armed with this knowledge, I managed to narrow it down to eight possibles! This continued for several days more until I finally managed to acquire an underwater slate and could take notes on the spot. Then bingo! I nailed it. It took me four days to work out which trigger fish was which, but using a little resourcefulness, I got there in the end.

Probably the single most useful bits of kit are a pocket notebook and a pencil, although modern takes on this such as phone and tablet can do a similar job.

All the great naturalists have made copious notes. It was in the books of such names as Darwin, Bates and Wallace that species were identified and theories on subjects as diverse as speciation, mimicry and evolution came together. Darwin spent most of his life writing up and extrapolating many theories from the notes he made on just a handful of field excursions. Those notebooks still exist and are shedding new light on the biological sciences as we speak. This is one of the greatest uses of notebooks – not only will they be relevant to you as a tool and an exercise to becoming a better and more observant naturalist, but those scruffy scrawlings and scribbles will also provide you with reference and comparisons long after you made them. Just the other day I was referring to a map of a local Badger sett I drew when I was 11 years old. Now, many years later, I can stand in the same spot and see the changes: some holes have long been filled in, trees have fallen down and changed the layout of others, some are brand new and others remain as if no time had passed at all.

Pencils are better than pens for note-taking: ink can freeze and will run and become illegible if it gets wet on paper. Attaching your pencil to the notebook with a piece of string saves valuable minutes of fumbling in the depths of your pocket or hunting around in the grass for the pencil you ‘just put down for a second’.

Buy a reasonably robust notebook, ideally with a waterproof cover and strong binding. For convenience I also use little reporter-type notebooks, the 10 × 6cm (4 × 2½in) sort with a ring binding at the top, and a piece of elastic to hold the pages in place. Having said that, the smaller the notebook the better. The best book for taking notes is the one you have with you in your pocket, not the one with more pages than the Encyclopaedia Britannica that you left in the car because you hadn’t brought your wheelbarrow with you to transport it!

You can make notes on phones and take digital photos of almost everything, but nothing hones observation skills and makes details stick in your memory better than actually writing down what you see. Also, ink runs if it gets wet, which is why a pencil can be useful.

Keep field notes to a minimum: use your own code and abbreviations to get the information down quickly. Sketches do not need to be something you would want to hang in the Tate Modern, they need only be useful to you. Keeping your lists and notes brief reduces the chances of note-taking becoming an obsessive chore.

Make your notes as soon as you can: the sooner you write it all down, the more you will remember. Regurgitate details such as time, date, weather, wind direction, numbers of flower heads, calls or noises, dimensions, colours, behaviour and anything else you think may be significant. Use drawings, too. They say so much more than words so much more quickly. Birds, winged insects and some mammals simply do not stay still long enough to do a masterpiece, but a few pointers of shape and colour will usually suffice for a positive ID.

Do not worry about scruffiness. The whole point of a field notebook is that it is a tool. If you care about presentation, you can always transfer the information to a master notebook later on. Stick in your original notes if you wish, expand on them, add identifications, etc. You can also embellish your ‘master’ notebook with specimen items (assuming you are not dealing with a protected species and that collecting is not against the law in any way) such as hairs, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds and bark rubbings.

Keep your book dry: if you are working in the wet, keep it in a ziploc bag or even purchase a large bag that you can get your hands into and write in relative shelter. Outdoor, field and forestry stores sell specially designed baffle-type book tents. If this sounds a little tiresome, you can buy waterproof ‘write in the rain’ books from field and forestry suppliers on the internet. They are more expensive but worth it, as good notes are priceless.

Go digital: if you are technologically minded, you can forsake conventional notes by taking a sound-recording device and a digital camera into the field. You need to be careful not to get these things wet and remember to take spare batteries, memory sticks and sound-recording media with you, but there is definitely room for the techno-naturalist to use new technology to his or her advantage.

A video camera is an expensive piece of recording equipment, but can be incredibly useful for capturing movement, behaviour and sounds.

Sound recording

A mobile phone can be a useful tool in the field, not just for taking photos and notes, but for quickly recording sounds.

Another alternative to written notes is the use of a sound-recording device. This can be anything from a cheap dictaphone with a limited amount of recording time to more advanced and flexible media such as mini-discs or mobile phones, which can be saved or the information can be transferred to a computer. Speaking into a microphone is a time-efficient way of recording events and a good option if what you are trying to record is unfolding quickly and in a complex manner or if you don’t have a lot of time to write up your notes. Another plus is that you can get a great feel for an environment from the noises it creates; and with certain animal calls, recording them and playing them back can reveal an interesting bit of behaviour.

I am a complete convert to digital photography. It is becoming cheaper and cheaper and cameras are getting smaller and smaller, and though for serious photography, only the biggest, most expensive, top-of-the-range stuff is still really an accepted replacement for film, smaller cameras are doing an increasingly good job.

For the naturalist the possibilities of digital photography combined with portable computer technology are limitless. One of the biggest advantages is that, because there is no film, there is less to go wrong mechanically and you do not need to have spare canisters lying around in the bottom of your field bag, getting hot and dusty.

With digital photography comes instant gratification, and because the pictures are free and editable, you can take a picture simply to help you with identification. If you find a mystery butterfly laying eggs on a mystery plant, you can snap the process itself, then the plant and the eggs, and still keep up with the insect, perhaps recording the number of times it stops to lay. The amount of information and the efficiency with which you gather it are greatly increased and you have an accurate and potentially permanent record. Take the pictures home at the end of the day, identify your subject and then decide whether or not you want to keep the information as part of your digital journal.

I have even seen a digital camera used as a magnifying device. I was conducting a field course, part of which involved emptying and recording the species of moth that were being pulled out of a light trap. I was getting in a right fuddle: moths were escaping and I was talking to my students at the same time as I was trying to record the species in my notebook. While I was juggling these tasks, one of my students, a more mature gentleman, was rapidly photographing every moth in sight. I thought no more than that he was taking a very enthusiastic interest in the insects, but later in the evening I found him sitting with his camera, a huge pile of moth books and a notebook. When I asked what he was doing he showed me a comprehensive list of the moths we had seen. He had queries over a few points of identification, and the photographs made it possible to go over this again and even to zoom in close enough to tell the sex of some of the insects. It turned out that this moth enthusiast had bad eyesight and had left his glasses behind, and so rather than slow everyone down in the field, he was snapping away as quickly as he could so that he could identify the insects later and enjoy their details in private.

Small and compact, a pocket digital camera has become a valuable piece of equipment for recording your sightings and findings.

Most naturalists will find themselves in need of a net at some point – there are some things that you simply can’t catch using your hands and arms. Having said that, I believe their use should be kept to a minimum – your eyes are your most important tool, and you should do as much observation as you can without interfering with your subjects. Keep the net for flighty species that tend to disappear before you can say ‘Camberwell Beauty’, for those that live too high up to be seen properly or for trawling through long grass, ponds or rivers.

Different nets do different jobs – a strong white net with a heavy frame is good for sweeping through vegetation; a lightweight black mesh is better for flying insects; a thick, strong net with big holes for drainage is best for pond work; while putting a jam jar at the bottom of a net will enable you to catch tiny pond animals and plankton. All these are available from specialist shops but are also fun and easy to make yourself.

With butterflies and other flying insects, use the net gently, picking them from vegetation or from behind in flight if possible, and try to avoid hitting your subject with the net rim. Avoid swiping with the net, as this can damage fragile wings. As soon as the insect is in the net, fold it with a quick flick of the wrist, trapping the insect inside. You can now manoeuvre your subject by lifting up the end of the net bag and allowing the insect to fly or crawl up towards the light.

Nets may be great for catching your subject, but they are surprisingly difficult to see details through. For this you need a specialist bit of kit known as a pillbox, which normally comes as a set of varying sizes that sit inside each other like Russian dolls. A pillbox is simply a cardboard pot with a clear bottom, and is fantastically useful for all insects, as they are dark, offer a perch for the insect to grip and, most important of all, being cardboard, breathe, so condensation doesn’t build up and the insect doesn’t get wet and stick to the sides. If you cannot source purpose-made pillboxes, fashion your own from the cardboard tube that comes in the centre of toilet or kitchen-paper rolls.

To transfer a butterfly or moth from your net, simply cup the pill box over the insect, wait for it to crawl towards the light and slide the lid on. (Another advantage of this design is that it greatly reduces the risk of inadvertently trapping wings and legs, because the insect instinctively heads towards the other end of the box.) Use a small torch to help you pick out tiny details and, as always, as soon as you have finished, release it in the same area that you caught it.

For tips on how to use nets and bits of net etiquette, there’s more in the chapter on invertebrates. This is me with my ‘old reliable’ butterfly net – the frame is at least 39 years old!

Tweezers or forceps are useful for manipulating something you don’t actually want to touch, like a stinging nettle, or aren’t afraid of damaging, like a snail or beetle. Don’t use them on small or delicate animals, though – instead go for cocktail sticks or large sewing needles, which give you more control over the pressure you are exerting.

With those frustrating animals that curl up their legs the moment you look at them, try picking them up in a tablespoon or combine this with a small camel-hair paintbrush and use them like a dustpan and brush to dislodge your subjects from a plant or scoop them up off the ground. If you don’t want to touch slugs, snails and the like, using two spoons to pick them up gets round the problem.

If you become fascinated by insects and creepy-crawlies generally, you will often find yourself poking and prodding in dark places, and so it can be handy to have something to illuminate the subject. I always carry a pocket torch, and the other device I find useful for bouncing light about is a pocket-sized, travel-type shaving mirror. These are great for looking under ledges and rocks. For nocturnal hunting, use a head torch, keeping both hands free for manipulating any small creatures you may come across.

Whatever your passion as a naturalist may be, whether you are collecting seeds, droppings, shells – in fact anything living or dead that needs a bit of protection in your field bag or back at base – you will need pots, and you will soon be recognising the potential of an eclectic range of containers. From ice-cream tubs to the tiny plastic boxes that peppermints come in, you’ll find a use for them.

Obviously, if your subject is dead, you can keep it in pretty well anything, but with living creatures, don’t forget light and ventilation. Punch a few holes in the lid of a margarine pot, and your spider will be perfectly happy; use an elastic band to hold a piece of netting in place over a take-away container, and caterpillars will crawl around to their heart’s content. Use your imagination and think how much your recycling efforts are helping the planet!