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

Seabirds grace Norfolk coast

The easterlies are returning! But before they do a spell of high speed North to North Westerlies are battering the North Norfolk coast as we speak, as well as many other areas of the North Sea coast.
This is great news for birders, especially those who enjoy seawatching.

Sooty Shearwater, Great Skua, Arctic Skua, Gannet, Little Gull, Red-Throated Diver, Razorbill, Great-Crested Grebe, Wigeon, Common Scoter and 2 Short-Eared Owls in off were all noted past Cley in just a 50 minute spell. With those birders staying longer enjoying fantastic views of Leach's Petrel.

Also along the coast at Holme, Sheringham and Winterton sea birds have been cropping up in good numbers, especially Sooty Shearwaters.

With the Northerlies set to swing round to North Easterlies through Thursday night and into Friday the picture changes again.

The hope is for more seabird movement but also for an arrival of passerines from Scandinavia and beyond. Perhaps One Stop Nature will repeat on the Yellow-Browed Warbler of a week ago, or perhaps something rarer!

Hopefully many birdwatchers will be able to get out there during these conditions and turn up something special for the rest of us to enjoy. As ever do pop in and report your sightings to us here at One Stop Nature and we will put what you have seen on our sightings board outside the shop.

In the meantime, have a look at the charts below from Magicseaweed.com to see how the winds will change in the next 48 hours, starting at Thursday morning and ending at Saturday morning.

Happy Birding!

One Stop Nature.

 

 

Siberian passerine visits One Stop Nature

As a birdwatcher you can find yourself going all over the country looking for rare birds. But yesterday one of these rare birds decided to visit us here at One Stop Nature.
A Yellow-Browed Warbler, which breeds in Siberia and winters in South East Asia, was heard and then seen yesterday morning by two customers of One Stop Nature.
After another search this petite warbler failed to show again, giving just a couple of blasts of its high pitched "tsoeest" call.
 There has been countless Yellow-Browed Warbler sightings throughout Britain in the last week or so, their arrival boosted by a continuing high pressure and easterly winds.
As ever we welcome any sightings here at One Stop Nature so if you are passing and have seen something interesting do pop in and let us know.
A happy Autumn to all bird watchers out there. 

Puss Moth

A beautiful Puss Moth was seen on our shop wall yesterday. The security lights outside the row of shops at Deepdale Market are attracting a good variety of species. This Puss Moth being the best so far: