Weekend sunshine

Everyone's waking up
With the sunshine continuing today we are seeing real signs of Spring - Chiffchaffs are in full song and these local Adders are warming up and getting ready for their next slough.

Spring arrives, and what better time to get outdoors!

So Spring has well and truly sprung across the UK as we finally (fingers crossed) seem to have left behind what was a terrible Winter for many. From Norfolk to Cornwall storms battered our coastlines and caused flooding.
While the flooding remains a serious issue in many areas the arrival of Spring, and the sun, may at last give a rest bite to the wind and rain of December-February.
So with the temperatures increasing, wind dropping and sun shining now is the best time to get outside and discover wildlife both in your garden and in the countryside.
Spring migrant birds are arriving, flowers are beginning to bloom and Sunday 9th March saw the highest temperatures of the year, up to 20oC in some places.
North Norfolk is a wonderful place to be in Spring and if you are in the area pop into The One Stop Nature Shop where you will find an expansive range of equipment from Binoculars to magnifiers to wildlife cameras which will enable you to observe more wildlife this Spring.
We also have our local bird sightings which are updated daily with birds found on the Norfolk coast.

Whatever aspect of wildlife you are into, Spring is a fantastic time of year to get outdoors and it finally seems like the weather is playing ball as well.

One Stop Nature.

Weekend High

Light and Easy
We are promised temperatures reaching 18 degrees this weekend so a great time to be out on the coast enjoying the wildlife. The One Stop Nature Shop has some huge savings on compact Nikon binoculars, easy to carry around in pocket,bag or just round your neck, and prices starting from £35

Recent sighting include up to 5 Great Northern Divers and 2 Black-throated Divers  at Blakeney Harbour and Iceland Gull at Thornham Harbour and still some Snow Buntings at Holme.

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch - 25th/26th January 2014

The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch will take place on the 25th and 26th of January 2014. All you need to do is spend just one hour over this weekend counting the birds in your garden.
The RSPB run this count in order to gauge the health of the countryside, which is a great indicator of the health of the countryside of the United Kingdom.
Lats year 590,000 people took part and recorded 8.2 million birds, giving the RSPB a fantastic insight into the birds that are visiting the gardens of the UK and the health of birds in the UK in general.

With the event just 11 days away now would be a great time to stock up those bird feeders, or maybe invest in some new ones in order to boost the number and variety of birds visiting your garden.

One that we personally recommend here at One Stop Nature is the CJ Apollo easy clean seed feeder. This superb feeder features detachable base, lid and bird stands for easy cleaning and has proven to be massively popular and easy to clean.
Priced at just £19.95 the Apollo would make a great addition to any garden ready for the Big Garden Birdwatch. Do pop in to give it a look or call us on 01485 211223 if you wish to place an order.

For more information on the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch please visit the link below and please do take part, the recordings you collect will prove vital to the future of garden birds in the UK.

Thank you

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/

Dino-Lite Digital Microscopes - A new way into microscopy

At The One Stop Nature Shop we have the largest retail display of microscopes in the UK, with our range of digital microscopes taking centre stage. They are often the first thing visitors notice upon entering the shop, with the high magnification digital microscopes connected to large 27" displays. 

But what is a Dino-Lite? and what makes them so good? Read on to find out...

Originally from Taiwan, Dino-Lite's are now distributed on every continent (Other than Antarctica....) and their success and popularity has led to the creation of a wide range of models. 

The ranges available to One Stop Nature Shop customers consist of: 

"Basic" (£105-£227) - For general purpose applications, where the high image resolution and advanced hardware and software features are not strictly necessary, the Dino-Lite basic series is a good choice. These Dino-Lite models are affordable and an easy-to-use, but still have the same durability and quality as the more advanced Dino-Lite product series. A basic version of the proprietary DinoCapture software is included with each Dino-Lite. The magnification of the microscopes goes from 10x to 70x to around 200x. 

"Professional" (£313-£399) - Dino-Lite Professional digital microscopes give professional users high picture quality as well as comprehensive measurement functions. The 1.3 megapixel image sensor provides a high resolution and sharp picture, with a large field of view. A broad range of models is available in the Professional series including long working distance, high magnification and models with adaptable polarisation. 

"Pro+ 5 megapixel" (£651-£741) - The Dino-Lite 7013 HR models provide crystal clear high resolution images of superior quality. The 5 megapixel sensor makes it possible to display microscopic images, without loss of quality, on large screens or where images should be printed. All 7013 models come in robust aluminium alloy housing for enhanced protection. With the DinoCapture 2.0 software package, you can save images and videos, make time lapse recordings and perform calibrated measurements. 

"TV/VGA" (£296) - For working in environments where you do not want to use a computer, or when a real-time video stream is required, a Dino-Lite with DVI, VGA or direct TV connection might be the best solution. The Dino-Lite series with VGA connection can be plugged directly into a computer monitor (VGA screen) and the DVI and TV models can be connected directly to the TV screen. A great advantage of the High-Speed-Real-time models is that they offer a high frame rate of up to 60 frames per second; ideal in siutiations where real time images are vital.

All Dino-Lite digital microscopes are compatible with the latest Windows and Mac operating systems and also backwards compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP and older Mac operating systems. 

As with a lot of equipment seeing is believing, and this applies to the Dino-Lite range as well. So please follow the links below to the relevant Dino-Lite range that is of interest to you or pop into our shop at Burnham Deepdale to experience Dino-Lite digital microscopes first hand. 

Dino-Lite "Basic" range

Dino-Lite "Professional" range

Dino-Lite "Pro+ 5MP" range

Dino-Lite "TV/VGA" range

Water Bear seen in shop !

Monday 18 November 2013
While a Yellow-breasted Bunting was being found on Blakeney Point today, we found our own very exciting record - a Water Bear or Moss Piglet - in a tiny sample of moss that we had immersed in spring water overnight. The Water Bears, or Tardigrades to give them their proper name, have been referred to as the "hardiest critters on earth" being able to withstand freezing down to -151 C and heated to 200 C , they can dehydrate to just 3% of water and don't need to eat for more than 30 years. They can withstand pressures six times that of the deepest ocean and have been sent to space, where they survived !

So we were elated when we managed to see one in our moss sample. Using a Stereo 3D microscope, on 40x we had our first Tardigrade sighting ! At less than half a millimeter long they are not easy to see,  translucent under a light microscope, and move surprisingly fast, but we managed quickly to capture an image using a mobile phone held up to the eyepiece tube. It's a pretty dreadful picture (below), due to our haste and excitement but our first and we shall be setting up a GX Cam to get better pictures. The hunt is on !

And here are some pictures taken by the North Carolina Museum of Sciences

New arrivals and website changes

A couple of new binoculars have landed at One Stop Nature and both offer fantastic optics at remarkably low prices.
First up is Zeiss's new offering, the Terra ED. Available in both 8x42 and 10x42 this binocular is the cheapest full size binocular Zeiss produce, but that doesn't mean it lacks the same quality and punch that the top Zeiss have despite being just £369 for the 8x42.
Click here to read our full review of the Zeiss Terra ED 8x42
Next up we have an exciting new binocular from Nikon, the Monarch 7 ED 8x30. Brand new to the market this compact and light (435 grams) binocular offers the superb optics of the full size Monarch 7 but at just £259. Combining this light weight with superb optical quality the Monarch 7 ED 8x30 promises to be one of the binoculars to purchase leading up to Christmas.
Please click here for more information on this superb binocular from Nikon.

Viewers of our website may have noticed a few changes taking place today (12/11/2013). As we quickly approach our 2 year anniversary we decided to give the website a make over to make it even more user friendly and aesthetically pleasing.
As ever we welcome all comments on the site and we would love to hear your thoughts on the new look as it progresses over the coming days.

One Stop Nature